The threat turned out to be a hoax, and all the kids were
safely returned to their normal routines of slouching and saying “like” in
short order. But before the police K-9 unit declared the high school free of
bomb-smell, I unleashed a flurry of texts and calls among me, my sister, and
her kids to make sure everyone knew what was going on and everyone was all
right. Meanwhile, PDaughter was on the phone with her dad (who was then on the
phone with me), doing the same thing. And of course, parents and the school
district were spreading the word on Facebook.
It was a crowd-sourced bomb threat. Very 21st
century.
Of course it was a hoax. I never really had a doubt, was
never really too worried about it. And then I thought: Just like the parents in
Newtown never had a doubt that their kids were safe at their school and would return
home to them on December 14th, 2012, as they did every day.
And then I sort of freaked out. Because although there was
every reason in the world to believe the bogus threat was nothing, there were
way too many reasons why it could have turned out to be horribly real. The way
it’s been horribly real for far too many families across the country and around
the world.
That was also very 21st-century, in a way the
Jetsons never imagined.
But today it wasn’t a tragedy. Today it was just some
shit-for-brains douchebag making an idle threat for God knows what reason
besides being an asshole. I refuse to be grateful to that anonymous little
pusbag for only being a loser and not a homicidal loser. Instead I’m grateful
to all the people who took the threat seriously – not because the hoaxer had
any credibility, but because it was their job to make sure my kids and everyone
else’s were OK.
Thanks to the police, from the dispatchers to the front-line
officers who would have put themselves in harm’s way without question if the
situation had called for it.
Thanks to the teachers and administrators who handled the
evacuation at the high school, and to those who handled the lockdowns at other
campuses, especially at PDaughter’s school, where they made sure every kid
called home to let a parent know they were all right.
Thanks to the parents who stayed in touch, and the kids who
reassured the parents (and the aunts).
And thanks to whatever entity is in charge of these things –
God or fate or karma or the Flying Spaghetti Monster – it doesn’t matter what
you call it – but thanks for creating an annoyance instead of a disaster.
I’m going to give PDaughter an extra-big hug tonight. I hope
I irritate the hell out of her. Because I can.
I cannot even imagine how terrifying that would be, hoax or not. School is supposed to be a safe place for our kids, not a potential war zone. I'm glad it all turned out ok and no one was hurt
ReplyDeleteI can't even imagine something like that happening. I'm SO glad that everything turned out to the way it did. You're very lucky that PDaughter was able to call one of you! My kids schools' have made it abundantly clear that if there were an emergency, the kids will not be able to call home. That scares the shit out of me, honestly.
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