In Harms Way

In 2003 I graduated from Oakland University with a degree in Elementary Education. Throughout my education at Oakland, I learned how to cultivate young minds and get them excited about learning. We focused on making learning enjoyable and encouraging children to love knowledge. Not once in my college education did I take a class on how to protect my students from gunmen. When I dreamed of being an effective teacher I never once thought that being effective meant shielding my students from harm, hiding them in closets to protect their innocent lives, sacrificing my own life so that they could live.

I could fill up this blog with rants about politics and government, blaming others for the many school shootings and innocent lives that have been lost. But a blog like that doesn’t do anything besides spark debate and anger. Instead I want to thank the teachers of America. You chose your career because of your passion for children. You did not sign up for a career of standing in the line of gunfire to protect innocent lives, yet every day you go to work knowing that your job is no longer to just educate but now you are to protect.  As a parent, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for loving my child enough to protect them and sacrifice your own life.