It was first period on Friday, October 27th and on Fridays I start my day with a structured study. I sat in the library, finalizing an essay I was working on and busily typing away when I heard the school resource officer’s pre-recorded voice over the intercom, “Attention all occupants, attention all occupants…” I –like all other students of Somerset Berkley Regional High School– have heard this announcement time and time again. It meant one thing and one thing only to us: we must be having a lockdown drill and simulating what will happen if there is an intruder inside the building.
My first thought when I heard this pre-recorded announcement wasn’t one concerned with what could possibly be happening within the building, though. Instead, I found myself asking, “Really? Why do we have to do this during my study? Why couldn’t this happen during a class I’d like to take a break from?” The other students in the library clearly weren’t worried about what was happening either; we all sat idly around waiting to see if we were supposed to go hide as if sheltering in place was some task we were required to complete and not an action necessary to save our lives. When we were instructed to shelter in place in between the bookshelves, we all begrudgingly did so and most of us sat playing on our phones. I opened the essay I had been writing and continued working on it. It was business as usual.
I think it’s apparent that we, as a generation, have become rather desensitized to these drills. We have been practicing what would happen if an active shooter was in our school since we were children. From a young age we knew that dying in the place we came to learn in was always a possibility; it was a risk you took when going to school. We are used to these drills and aren’t alarmed when we hear these types of announcements because we automatically assume that we’re engaging in yet another simulated shooting, not a real one. I can only imagine what would happen if there were actually a threat in the building. I’m sure we’d eventually be told that something was actually wrong, but when that announcement first sounds, I doubt that we’d be all that concerned.
It’s not just the shelter in place announcement that we have become desensitized to, though. As a nation, we all have become desensitized to school shootings and gun violence in general. We watch the news mention the most recent shooting for about a week and then everyone seems to move on. Our social media feeds feature the faces of victims for a day or two, but then we forget that they ever existed. Our politicians call for thoughts and prayers after a school shooting occurs, but never follow their words with action that would prevent these tragedies from happening again. All of us have become blind to just how tragic and terrible gun violence is. Sure, we are somewhat saddened each time we hear stories of gun violence, but they hardly ever leave a lasting impact on our culture. We simply move on and act as if nothing had ever happened.
When will enough be enough? What will it take for us to realize how bad of a situation we are in? How many people have to be affected by gun violence before politicians decide to do something to address this issue that kills so many of us each year? Or will the importance of profits for gun manufacturers and the satisfaction of the NRA always trump the value of human life?
