Point of View: Back to Reality
Not long ago, during an idyll in Palm Desert, Calif., I was doing the crossword puzzle and the first clue I came across was: “ ‘Serial’ podcast host Sarah.”
No problem. I knew that that would be Sarah Koenig, who used to work here at The Star.
Usually, I’m out of it when it comes to topical questions in the puzzles, preferring the gossamer past to the lurid present.
“Do you know who Odysseus’ rescuer was?” I asked.
“How would I know,” said Georgie, who had been reunited with her twin, Johnna, following a long separation.
“. . . You’re right, Ino!” I said, looking up after some moments of reflection.
As it turned out, Georgie and Johnna were my saviors that day because they are of a younger generation, which, at long last, I’ve begun to listen to, and could therefore fill in the gaping gaps of my knowledge of current events.
“Who wrote ‘Hamilton’?” I asked out loud. “Lin . . .”
“Lin Manuel Miranda,” Johnna replied.
“What’s the backdrop to AMC’s ‘The Walking Dead’?” I asked, at a loss.
“Zombie apocalypse,” Georgie said, laughing.
Done.
And so, back to reality, though I’d rather not.
From wit to shit. Our other daughter, Emily, a veteran teacher, was, I learned on our return, up in arms concerning the move to arm teachers in the wake of the massacre of 17 students at the high school in Parkland, Fla.
“Now they’re telling us we have to be police officers and security guards too?” she said when I phoned her. “We can carry a gun, but we’re not allowed to turn up the thermostat? Where were the bonuses for all the supplies we’ve been paying for out of pocket all these years — for books, markers, pencils, crayons, copy paper? I could go on and on and on. ‘There’s no money,’ that’s what the answer’s always been. But now, all of a sudden there is money! Not more money for social workers and psychologists, but for guns. We had one social worker at a school of 960 kids in an impoverished community in crisis where I taught in Chicago. One. We’re always telling the children to pick the best possible answer from among several possible ones. Well, this is the worst possible answer.”
“Everything’s always been put on the teachers,” Emily continued. “Turn out sterling scholars, lifelong learners, outstanding citizens, fix poverty . . . and now we’re to solve gun violence?! I can’t go to a math conference because there’s no money. There’s no money for education, but there’s money for guns. It’s so sick. I can’t believe people are voting for this. It’s like a wildfire. I want a bonus for the other stuff I, and all the other teachers, do.”
“Frankly, it terrifies me. I don’t want my sons going to a school where there are guns. I’ve never allowed guns in our house. It was all I could do to say yes to a lightsaber.”
“Can you imagine a teacher shooting a former student? Are teachers going to wear holsters? If a gun is locked away, might not a student find a way to get at it? What about teachers and students being shot in crossfires? Have they really thought all this out? Maybe some teachers might be good at this, but the school would not be a safer place if I had a gun. I didn’t sign up to be a security guard. I don’t want to shoot anyone. I’m not wired that way. I just want to do what I love to do, which is teach.”