Annunciation

 As is often the case, I got the news as I was sitting at my desk at school. Outside my door I could hear the mild torrent of activity associated with my job: children. The news that I received was about yet another school shooting. This one was at a Catholic school in Minneapolis. And eight and a ten year old were killed. Fourteen other children were injured and three elderly parishoners who were in the chapel when the killer opened fire. 

Outside of my room, I could hear the screams and cries of eight and ten year olds. They were cries of excitement, frustration and garden variety childish behavior. What I heard were not screams of horror or pain. 

As the day wore on, media reports scrambled to fill the void and make sense out of the senseless. In Minneapolis, the killer was "contained." The rest of the children were safe. They were safe from the killer because they had saved the last shot for themselves. Authorities believe the killer was "acting alone." Most of these revelations came as "breaking news" as I returned to my job of shuffling groups of kids to and from my room. The reality of my own experience blurred slightly at the edges as I tried not to imagine what terrors filled those moments in the morning of their third day of the school year. 

What I did not bear witness to was the avalanche of TV news coverage that rains down in a flood at these all-too-familiar events. What I caught up to later in the day after I had my normally chaotic day teaching elementary school was this: Former Republican Representative Trey Gowdy and current Fox News host weighed in with his thoughts on yet another school shooting. Mister Gowdy said,  “The only way to stop it is to identify the shooter ahead of time or keep the weapons out of their hands. We’re going to have to have a conversation of freedom versus protecting children. I mean, how many school shootings does it take before we’re going to have a conversation about keeping firearms out - " He paused. Then went on to make the mostly unspoken observation that most of these killers are white males. 

So in the midst of a day that saw business as usual occurring in schools across this great land of ours, including the fuss and struggles at my school as well as the slaughter of innocents in Minneapolis, a crack appeared in the firmament. Trey Gowdy, who once addressed an NRA "leadership forum" and suggested after the Parkland shootings in 2018, “Before we began to advocate for new laws, I think it is eminently fair to say, ‘How are we doing enforcing the ones we currently have?’”

Just to round out the day, reaction was swift from the MAGAts, insisting, “Trey Gowdy hates you and wants to take your guns, and that he was “pushing for gun control and anti-white hatred.”

That came from a very dark place. Two children where shot and killed as they knelt in prayer. I have a suggestion for where others might choose to put their "thoughts and prayers" at this time. A very dark place.