{"id":21849,"date":"2018-03-14T23:25:30","date_gmt":"2018-03-15T05:25:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=21849"},"modified":"2018-03-15T07:53:31","modified_gmt":"2018-03-15T13:53:31","slug":"opinion-when-what-if-becomes-when","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2018\/03\/opinion-when-what-if-becomes-when\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: When ‘what if?’ becomes ‘when?’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Gym\"<\/a>

Mary Sheehy Mow<\/p>

Students’ notes about gun violence were taped to the walls of the old gym at Great Falls High School on Wednesday.<\/p><\/div>\n

A hush fell over the halls of Great Falls High School at 10 a.m. Wednesday, and in a high school teeming with over 1,000 adolescents, any hush is eerie. Over the loudspeaker the student body president announced that a moment of silence would be observed in memory of the slain students in Parkland and asked those students who wished to walk out of their classrooms and into the gym to observe it too.<\/p>\n

The Great Falls school district took a different approach to the \u201cwalkouts\u201d predicted nationwide in response to the ongoing tragedy of school shootings, most recently played out in Parkland, Florida. Teachers and administrators didn\u2019t feel they could ensure the safety of students who left their buildings and campuses. Students didn\u2019t feel that their individual messages would be heard in a crowd of shouting student voices.<\/p>\n

\"Moe\"<\/a>

Mary Sheehy Moe<\/p><\/div>\n

So both sides worked together to meet each others\u2019 interests. At Great Falls High, the administration agreed to provide a place for students who wished to express their opinions about school shootings \u2014 the historic old gym, golden with age, redolent of the generations of students who had come of age in this very same place. Student leaders would set staff tables where students could sit and write letters to their elected officials, explaining why they had walked out and what they would like those officials to do.<\/p>\n

The planners at Great Falls High had thought that half the gym would suffice to handle the protesters and 20 minutes would be long enough for the messages to be completed. They were wrong on both counts. More students walked than anyone had expected. The stairwells and hallway outside the old gym were clogged with throngs of silent students, patiently waiting their turn to enter, sit at one of the tables, and pen their messages.<\/p>\n

Because of the crowd, it took a bit longer to complete the exercise than the student government leaders had anticipated. But not much longer. After 30 minutes, the gym was empty again, except for the student volunteers quietly taping the messages to the wall of bleachers on the north side of the gym. There were nearly 200 messages, by my estimation, and they expressed the full range of views on the gun violence that has become all too common in America\u2019s schools. A sampling:<\/p>\n

\u2666\u00a0\u201cI am walking out because I know what it is like to lose a loved one. I also believe we have a chance to end this horror. I pray for everyone who has been affected by school shootings. [I suggest] metal detectors [at school] and more SRO enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2666\u00a0\u201cAs a student, I shouldn\u2019t have to see fellow kids my own age dying. Thousands of futures lost. At this point, thoughts & prayers aren\u2019t enough. We NEED policies and change. My teachers should not have to do the job in protecting us for the government. Education in any way, shape, or form should not be inhibited by violence. Let Parkland be the last school shooting, let\u2019s make change.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CapreAir_Variable\"<\/a><\/div><\/div>\u2666\u00a0\u201cNo one should be scared to go to school, especially my younger siblings in elementary schools. By us walking out, I hope this aid[s] those who do not know how to speak out and stop this violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2666\u00a0\u201c[T]here are not enough armed faculty at any of the [G]reat [F]alls school[s] to take care of more than one threat at a time. There should always be enough armed faculty to deal with any threat that pops up whether it be minor or major.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2666\u00a0\u201cI want to feel safe going to school every day. I don\u2019t want my generation and those after me to fear the learning environment. I hate that thousands of innocent young people are killed. [I suggest that we] make military-grade weapons and machine guns unavailable to common citizens. [We also need] more\/stricter process to get guns; ex., mental health evaluations, disability considerations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2666\u00a0\u201cIt could\u2019ve been me or my brothers or my friends, it could\u2019ve been anyone in my Bison family. I love my MSDB [Montana School for the Deaf and Blind] and Bison families. I couldn\u2019t handle it if anything happened to them. [We need] age limits, background checks, not building mostly of glass.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2666\u00a0\u201cGuns are not the problem, crazy people are. They should not be able to purchase a gun. [We should] have all the doors locked so no one bad can get in and when it\u2019s lunch time you should have to get a visitors pass and write your name on a piece of paper.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2666\u00a0\u201c7000+ lives lost since Sandy Hook are not enough for us to start taking accountability and making a change. Precious lives are lost, students live in fear of going to school. When will we start to change this destructive behavior? Students shouldn\u2019t live in fear. Take away the fear, take action against violence. Stop arguing and risking our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2666\u00a0\u201cI understand what it is like to live in fear for your life. My father is and was a cruel man. School was my only escape most days. It was a place to feel safe. This isn\u2019t anti-gun, this is pro-safety. This is about taking care of children and young adults \u2026. [We need to] encourage parents to talk to their kids about guns. They are dangerous and they are not a toy. They should teach their children about respect. We need to erase the stigma about guns and mental health.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2666\u00a0\u201cI am not only walking out but walking UP! I walked out because people lose their lives every year because of gun violence in a place they thought they were safe: school. Improvements are made every year and continue to improve on guns and gun safety. Walking out today made me realize I want to walk up. Walk up to the student sitting alone, walk up to the person needing help, and walk up to the person who is difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was invited to observe the walk-out today when I expressed my concern that the student voice was being suppressed, that students would be less likely to speak out in the presence of teachers and administrators and in the hallowed halls of their high school. I understood the concern for the students\u2019 safety, but I was just as concerned that we show we want to hear what students have to say. As an elected official, I felt a special obligation in that regard.<\/p>\n

I left the occasion impressed by how much these students were able to communicate in that format \u2026 and how little. Their messages are as individualized and unique as each of them is, something that wouldn’t be captured in a march with its chants and signs. But like the rest of us, even for students it\u2019s easier to talk to the wall on this subject, to vent, rather than come to an understanding.<\/p>\n

Unlike the rest of us, students have a special claim on our attention. They alone know this fear. They\u2019ve been raised on it and trained for it throughout their school days. It is all they have ever known. It isn\u2019t the same as the old \u201cduck and cover\u201d days septuagenarians remember. Yes, that must have been traumatic, imagining that the Russians could drop a nuke any day. But today\u2019s students don\u2019t have to imagine. School shootings in today\u2019s America happen every week (https:\/\/everytownresearch.org\/reports\/analysis-of-school-shootings\/<\/a> ) The question in today\u2019s kids\u2019 heads isn\u2019t \u201cWhat if?\u201d It\u2019s \u201cWhen?\u201d And they are \u2014 rightfully, logically \u2014 afraid.<\/p>\n

Great Falls High School kept them safe on Wednesday and gave them what I concluded was a powerful venue to express what they feel and believe. Now it will be up to the rest of us to listen, to come to a reasonable agreement, and to act.<\/p>\n

Wish us luck, kids. And a scintilla of your idealism.<\/p>\n

Mary Sheehy Moe has served Great Falls as a school board trustee and state senator. She is now a city commissioner.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A hush fell over the halls of Great Falls High School at 10 a.m. Wednesday, and in a high school teeming with over 1,000 adolescents, any hush is eerie. Over the loudspeaker the student body president announced that a moment of silence would be observed in memory of the slain students in Parkland and asked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":21850,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3864],"tags":[6849,6846,6638],"class_list":["post-21849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-great-falls-high","tag-gun-violence","tag-mary-sheehy-moe","prominence-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/179"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21849"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21853,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21849\/revisions\/21853"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}