This editorial was written by the (Anderson) Herald Bulletin.
Four words came across the police scanner a week ago, and it was as if the world had suddenly stopped turning.
“Active shooter at school.”
We stopped in our tracks. We held our breath. And we said a silent prayer … please don’t let this nightmare be happening here.
Several agonizing moments later it became clear it wasn’t.
But it was happening way too close to home, just 35 minutes away at Noblesville West Middle School.
That’s close enough that members of local law enforcement rendered assistance at the scene. Close enough that many of you knew someone there. Close enough that you might have been there.
It’s a sobering dose of reality that more than two dozen communities across our nation have been dealt in just the first 20 weeks of 2018. School violence can happen anywhere. Even a middle school in central Indiana. Fortunately for the Noblesville community, this tragedy did not come with the loss of innocent life.
A 13-year-old girl is in stable but critical condition. A science teacher, shot three times as he heroically intervened, is recovering after surgery. And, aside from the emotional trauma they’ll be dealing with for the rest of their lives, no other children were harmed.
We were lucky. Too many communities, families and schools haven’t been.
So, where do we go from here?
The conversation cannot stop because no one is dead. We can’t turn our backs on the problem. Because it’s one we’ve willingly ignored for far too long.
We must establish a constructive national dialogue about how to combat the violence that’s descended upon our schools. We must be willing to put aside differences of opinion to find consensus on solutions. We need to face reality, even if it challenges our firmly held beliefs.
We’ll have to talk about guns … why we think we need them, what we use them for and why they’re finding their way into the hands of children.
We’ll have to talk about mental health … why so many are dealing with disorders, why they’re terribly underserved and why we ignore the signs in troubled youth.
And then we have to take action. Action that leads to safer schools and students who don’t fear walking into those hallways and never coming home.
We’re already too late for far too many.
How many kids will never get the chance to be adults because they died waiting for us to act like ones?
#NotOneMore … it’s a promise we should keep.
