OK, first of all, let me say that i know it has been some time since I have posted on the blog. For those of you who were checking in regularly, I apologize. I have had a busy last week, getting used to the travel that comes with my job, arranging for a move to a house a few cities away, and lots of other little things that made it difficult to follow through with my goal of writing every day.
I have decided that there are three things I WANT to accomplish every day. Write, exercise, and read from book before falling asleep in bed instead of watching TV. Of course, there are many other thing in the run of a day that I hope to achieve, but generally speaking, if I accomplish these three things, I find that my day stays more on track than if i don't, and i definitely have an easier time falling asleep.
So far, morning has proved a difficult time to write, even though it remains the best option. Sometimes, days like yesterday come around on the calender and throw a huge monkey wrench in the plans. I was scheduled to be in Atlantic City by 7:30am to speak in a high school. I had 7 classes to address, so it was going to be a full day. I'd have to leave at 5:30am to be there on time, as AC is roughly 90 miles away. Well, the storm came rolling through on Tuesday night, and classes in AC were delayed two hours, which meant they all got shrunk down from 40 minutes to 25. It also meant that I had until 9:30 to arrive, but with the snow, my commute went from an hour and a half to about two and a half hours.
This was a bit of a concern, as I am still getting familiar with much of the information I use in my presentations. Chopping out 15 minutes, from an already truncated presentation, basically without having a whole lot of time to go over it, had me a bit flustered.
Anyway, I spent part of the drive mentally preparing myself, considering how to "reader's digest" my plans for the adjusted schedule. I arrived at the school at 9:25am. AC High School has roughly 2300 students who attend. It's a BIG school. I parked my car about a 1/4 mile away,which was still only about half way to the end of the parking lot. It was bitter cold, and the storm was bringing icy winds across the lot. The Atlantic Ocean surrounded the school grounds on two sides and wasn't being kind this morning. As I opened the hatchback of my Subaru and began packing my materials to go inside, I looked out across the water and had a funny feeling that the ocean was angry at me, at us, for not canceling school outright today. The storm had claimed about 98% of the state, closing every other school district in NJ for the day, and here I stood a few hundred yards away from the mightiest of Mother Nature's elements. I wondered if it was possible for the ocean to feel emotions. I giggled a bit at the thought as the Atlantic continued shaking her proverbial fist at me for daring to venture out when she had given us such a beating. I bet next time she comes even harder.
As I rounded the corner of the school and approached the main entrance, I was a bit perplexed with what I saw. Hundreds of students were lined up outside, in a few large "huddles". As I neared them, I heard a voice over the PA say, "All last names starting with D through F". This prompted one of the huddles to move toward the doors and slither through. When I got to the entry, a gentleman in a security uniform directed me to the right side, where staff and teachers had been entering. I got to go in despite my last name starting with a "C". Being an adult has some mighty fine perks! I felt a building sense of curiosity about what was going on. Why were the students all herded together by last name? Why did they have to stand out in the icy cold before going in? I walked through the doors, and my curiosity was satisfied. All 2300+ students had to pass through 4 sets of metal detectors, a pat search and a bag search before being allowed to start their studies each day. At first I was amazed at the level of security and the efficiency I was observing. This was no less stringent than what you would see at the airport, although no shoes had to come off. I was a few minutes early, so I paused and watched all of the remaining of the 2300+ students pass through the check point. This was more the picture one would expect at a super max prison, or a high level restricted area military area. I think I actually had to catch my jaw as it dropped, with me staring in awe. No sooner did the last student pass through and make his way off to his home room, than did I get a huge pit in my stomach.
"What has become of us?"
I know we have all seen flashbacks in the movies, how a shot will fade out with a cloud effect, or a blurry wave will cross the screen and on the other side the actors are transported back to an earlier point in time. At this moment, I was brought back to my high school days, and Atlantic City High School was replaced with the foyer at Park View Education Center. I could see the pop machines and a set of stairs up to the second floor off to the right as I walked in the main entry. The administrative offices lie to the left. Straight ahead were school jackets, and athletic trophies in the glass cases which separated the cafeteria from the foyer.
I saw students huddled in their cliques,moving about freely, laughing, joking, mostly without a care in the world. My bus arrived about 30 minutes before first bell, and this was serious social time for me. I would sometimes play a game of cards, or shoot baskets in the gym. Sometimes I would just hang out with my girl and make goo goo eyes for half an hour. Other students crammed in assignments they had put off the night before. This was actually my favorite time of the day. Every morning started this way. I remember vividly many mornings, and many of my friendships being forged more deeply in these moments. It was a good memory indeed.
The alarm bell rang and brought me back into the present. There was very little socialization going on among the student before home room here. Security personnel lined the hallways, with whistles, like a basketball referee, blowing them with alarming frequency. It reminded me of watching sheep herding competitions. "Keep moving!" "Remove the hoodie!" "Get to class!" Whistles were blown following every statement, three, four, five times. Students listened and when they were the target of an instruction, they knew it and responded quickly. The halls were cleared within moments and the few stragglers that were still hustling to homeroom when the second alarm bell rang, literally went into dead runs to get where they were supposed to be.
This was very impressive and twice as scary. It had the efficiency of the most thoroughly planned out military strikes. This is what our children are forced to go through every morning so they can get the most basic of educations. What picture does this paint of the world for these young impressionable minds? How did we get to this point?
Well, unless you have been in complete seclusion the past two decades, you know that these procedures are in place to avoid such tragedies as the very recent and fresh in our minds mass shooting in Arizona. It all started in 1966 at the University of Texas. 15 people killed by a sniper, including the wife and mother of the shooter, before police marksmen killed him. I don't recall very much of this stuff of this stuff happening in the 80's. Maybe I wasn't paying attention, being the teenager that I was, but in '89 the mass shooting in Montreal got seem to have gotten the ball rolling. More and more frequently, incidents began to stream into news rooms through the 90's. In the the new century we have never had to go too long before the next act of school yard violence got major news coverage, and claimed more innocent lives. Whenever I hear the words Ecole Polytech, Columbine, Virginia Tech, I instantly think of the atrocities that occurred there. These measures are an answer to the question we all ask sometimes: I wonder where will the next attack happen? Not at Atlantic City High School.
Hundreds of lives have been lost at the hands of unstable people holding guns and knives, some armed with bombs. Families have had loved ones ripped from their lives due to senseless acts of violence. Schools seem to have become a favorite target for people wishing to do harm in this manner. So much so that in order to keep the hallways and classrooms safe, metal detectors have been introduced into many schools. Whistles are blown and orders barked at students who aren't in dress code, or who pause to chat for a moment in the hallways. Freedoms I took for granted when I was 17, are no longer part of teenager's lives. The gunmen and women who perpetrated these horrible crimes, not only took innocent lives, but they have changed the world, for the worse, forever. High schools all over have become super max security prisons, and it is the right thing to do. While I despise the fact that this is all necessary, I recognize that indeed, it is.
As I finished up my day yesterday at Atlantic City High School, I walked back down to the main entrance to leave, and I passed one of the security personnel, and he said, "Excuse me sir, can i see your visitor's pass?"
I hadn't really thought about it prior to this, but I was wearing a long black overcoat to help keep me protected from the stormy weather. I was carrying 3 large satchels, and had on a black winter hat, much like you would expect to see a bank robber pull down over his face just before exclaiming, "Everyone get DOWN!" I didn't blame the gentleman for stopping me.
I dug around in the pockets to find my pass and after fumbling through every pocket it wasn't in before finding it, I handed it to him. He looked at me, looked at the pass, and said, "Thank you very much Mr. Carey, have a great afternoon."
I looked back at him and took my pass in my left hand and held out my right to shake his. He took my hand and I looked him in the eye and said, "Thank you sir, for keeping these students safe."
Say a prayer for the schools in our countries people. They are charged with as important a job as there is in our society.
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