Just as all of you, the writers of this weekly article have an abundant amount of “stuff” banging around in our gray matter. Somewhere within that conglomeration of the coherent and the incoherent, there are some thoughts and ideas of merit. Often, swirling in that brain overload, information, thoughts, ideas and opinions surface, crash, and burn. As incredible as the human brain is, it cannot always hold everything that it encounters each day. Think about it.
We are changing it up a bit this week. Instead of reading what one of us is contemplating, you get a smorgasbord, a cornucopia if you will, from the four of us.
Now might be an advisable time to turn to the sports or financial section. But, we sincerely hope that you stick with us and “see what we are thinking.”
Kreigh: If you know me at all you know that I am inherently a lover of questions. Any and all questions. Answers? Not so much, I find. With that caveat, I will proceed to ask some questions.
What I am thinking: how many 6 year-olds have access to a loaded gun? How many of said 6-year-olds carry a gun to their first-grade classroom of 20 children and a teacher, and shoot the teacher? You can read the details if interested; it’s been in the news. The average American first-grader is 45 inches tall and weighs in at an impressive 45 pounds. That’s probably not too scary in most scenarios.
Roughly one-third of American homes with children have guns; an estimated 4.6 million kids live with unlocked but loaded guns. Can that be right? Where does a 6-year-old child even fathom the idea to locate a loaded gun, carry it to school, and proceed to pull it out, aim, and fire hitting his teacher in the chest causing a life threatening injury? The teacher is expected to physically recover. I can pretty much guarantee that “facing an armed first-grader” was not covered in her teacher training.
What about the other students in that classroom? How are they to process and understand what happened? What potential long term issues may arise in these kids’ lives because of what they witnessed?? How do their parents begin to explain? I certainly have no answer to that one.
You want to own a gun? OK. But how about this: Let’s prioritize gun safety, gun storage, and talking to your kid(s) about gun violence and reality. How do you keep your child safe in someone else’s home? Before a play date do we need to inquire if there is a gun in the home? Is it locked up safely? This phenomenon of firearms being the leading cause of death for kids under 18 in the United States did not begin with a 6-year-old first-grader in Virginia. It won’t end there, either. The adults in this country better get together and figure it out. It is our responsibility. That’s what I am thinking.
Ballinger: How about last week’s controversy over the “inclusive community” signs on approaches to Bluffton? Articles in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette and in News-Banner. Interviews on TV with Mayor Whicker. I thought he did a fine job of addressing the issue, or non-issue, however one might define it. All spurred by some hateful tweets that make us all look small and paranoid.
Speaking aspirationally, I prefer to be from and live in an inclusive community. Even if we don’t know exactly what that means or how it is manifested. It is a bit like saying we are a “kind community.” It means we all bear responsibility for welcoming and protecting the newcomer and the poor and the minority. It seems to go right along with all my childhood Sunday School lessons.
Does that make us “woke?” It’s one of my relatively new least favorite terms. I hear it bandied about as though it is a contagion brought on by nice, well meaning bleeding hearts intent on upending the social order. You may call me woke if you wish. I’m OK with it. Apparently, this causes great fear among those few who would prefer an insular existence here in our hometown.
I say all of this in tongue-in-cheek fashion. For sure, almost everyone I know in this town where I have lived for 50 years is kind and helpful. But let’s be honest: Those tweets were an embarrassment.
Spalding: The Golden State recorded in 2020 the largest wildfire season in its modern history with over 10,000 fires burning more than 4.2 million acres (CA.gov). Many of those fires were sparked by intense thunderstorms during record breaking heat waves and spread by Diablo and Santa Ana winds. Thirty-three lives were lost to those fires. While fires in 2020-2021 burned far more acreage than in the previous seven years combined, the 103 lives lost in the 2018 season makes that season the deadliest.
Now, it’s rain, precipitation that residents were desperate for not to end the drought – the worst in at least 1,300 years according to The Washington Post on Jan. 10. Crops withered. Wells ran dry. Reservoirs shrank. Heat waves caused power outages. Fires destroyed communities and forests.
Until this week I hadn’t heard the term “atmospheric river,” relatively long, narrow regions in the atmosphere. The seventh consecutive “river in the sky” (as NOAA termed it) since Christmas continues dumping rain in northern California. From Dec, 26 to Jan. 11, 13.6 inches of ran has fallen in San Francisco, according to the National Weather Service.
Years of intense drought followed by weeks of heavy rain, two opposite meteorological conditions, can combine to create severe mudslides. The lengthy drought caused California’s soil to dry out and grow less permeable to water, That condition combined with slopes ravaged by wildfires makes mudslides a destructive force to reckon with. At least 17 people have died in the last two weeks as a result of the conditions caused by these atmospheric rivers.
Dare I utter the words “climate change” — in particular, the rapid warming of our planet? Dare I suggest we humans are the cause of that warming? That’s something else I’ve been thinking about.
Darr-Norman: Issues which attack my heart and mind are many. My heart aches for Ukraine, I hurt when I hear my cousin say that agriculture fields in California are underwater where the company she works for generates fresh produce for the nation. A gun in the hands of a six-year-old grieves me. The circus in our nation’s Capitol troubles me.
But today my writing takes a different turn. We’ve heard You can’t go home again stated many times, but I don’t want to dissect the various meanings.
Recently, my sister’s husband died in Florida where they have made their home for 40 years. My daughter and I attended the Celebration of Life and interment just before Thanksgiving. As she introduced the family in attendance, my sister introduced me as her mom. A slip of the tongue? A Freudian slip? I think it was that proverbial need for a mother surfacing at a time of need. It drew laughter because I am just four years older than she is.
Subsequently, she called and asked if she could come for the holidays. She couldn’t go “home” in the tangible sense because the physical home has long been sold and our parents are dead. She has no children. She could come home if we mean returning to family. Although much besides distance has separated us through the years, family trumps disagreements.
She reached out and I responded YES! She returned home to family for 12 days.
You can go home again. Reach out and ask.
Here’s the thing: That’s some of what we contemplated last week. What’s been on your mind?`
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Editor’s Note: This is one of a series of articles written by a group of retired and current teachers — Ken Ballinger, Billy Kreigh, Marianne Darr-Norman, and Anna Spalding. Their intent is to spur discussions at the dinner table and elsewhere. You may also voice your thoughts and reactions via The News-Banner’s letters to editor.
