Thank You, Teachers

This has nothing to do with service dogs, but I've been reading about the recent school shooting, and I'm really touched by the teachers and other school staff that died trying to protect their students.  When you decide to become a teacher, you expect to deal with all sorts of things, but I don't think anyone thinks about dealing with something like this.  Many years ago, I taught preschool for a little while, and I can tell you it never once occurred to me that one day someone with a gun might burst into my classroom and start shooting.

Would I have risked my life to protect my students?  Probably.  I guess we never really know until we are faced with that question, and I hope most of us never will be.  But I was thinking about it, and you know, I bet most teachers would.  And that is absolutely incredible.  You know how little teachers get paid?  And how hard they work?  And all the crap they put up with?  We ask them to do all that, and then we want them to be willing to die to protect their students, too.

I watched an interview on 20/20 with one of the teachers that survived, in which she talked about how she crowded her 15 first grade students into a tiny bathroom, about six square feet.  She talked about how she kept them calm and how, as she heard the sound of gunshots approaching her classroom, she told the students how much she loved them.  She thought those might be the last words they ever heard, and if so, she wanted them to leave this world knowing they were loved.  She was afraid if the children made any noise, the gunman might hear them and come in.  Can you imagine how hard it would be to keep 15 little kids quiet as they huddled in a tiny bathroom, listening to the sound of gunfire? 

I watched an interview of a little girl, maybe eight years old, and she talked about how her teacher read books to the students to keep them calm until help arrived.  She said the teacher read them the Nutcracker and another book about Christmas.  Can you imagine reading a story while listening to gunshots down the hall?  Can you imagine how hard it would be to keep the kids focused on the story, to keep them calm?  But she clearly did.  This little girl remembered what her teacher read.

These teachers didn't panic.  They stayed calm and helped children through something so scary and traumatic that most of us can't even imagine it.  They made sure that the children knew they were loved.  Of course, this experience is going to affect these children for the rest of their lives, but these teachers brought them through it as well as anyone possibly could.  And this isn't what teachers are trained for.

So let's just say thank you today to all the teachers out that there would die if necessary to protect our kids.