Girl, Interrupted [View all]

[H2O Man]

https://abcnews.go.com/US/sixth-grade-girl-opens-fire-middle-school-idaho/story?id=77543562

Just my opinion, but the "answer" to this would not have been to have all sixth-graders armed with guns. But that's just me. Before anyone here savagely attacks me with the 'ole "a good armed sixth-grader is the best answer to a bad sixth-grader with a gun in the classroom, let me explain.

Years ago, a local historical society requested that I apply for recognition on the state and federal historic registration for a church in a hamlet with a population of less than thirty people. Having grown up in the suburbs of an even smaller hamlet some four miles away, and having numerour resources to document local history, I was happy to lend a hand.

The first church here doubled as the school, as was common in this area in the early post-Revolutionary War era. One spring day, the people inside the building were having a discussion about if there was a need for a new roof. About a third of the community said yes, a third no, and a third were willing to go along with what others decided.

As they debated and argued inside, a severe storm entered the sky from the northwest. (This, of course, was like an almost exact storm arose in one of Mohawk Leader Joseph Brant's meetings with General Herkimer during the Revolutionary War, some eight miles away.) The force of the storm collapsed half of the church's roof, ending the debate.

A teenager who used oxen to bring large rocks to build a new church's foundation -- and who worked at a "cloth & carding factory" at the falls near my house -- would become an attorney, a state official, and a US Senator and then federal Attorney. He married the daughter of a doctor who lived in my house, famously locally for his blue pills and anti-slavery pamphlets. (I tend the doctor's grave, across the street from the church, in a cemetery we also got on the state and national historic registers.)

Daniel Dickinson, before his political career, also was the moving force for the building of a new school, also across the road from the church. Then, one of the first "colleges" next to the school, though it had a short existence. More, Dickinson became an early advocate for government support for public schools.

To get permission to submit the application for recognition on the state and federal registers, I had to speak to the church membership. Not surprisingly, about a third supported the idea, a third opposed it, and a third were willing to go along with whatever the others decided. So I told the story of the first church-school and the storm. We discussed people's concerns. They approved by a vote of two-to-one.

Now, I've said all of that, to say this: in my younger years, I had a lot of experience working on foundations. That included re-building and improving an entire wall of the stone basement of my first house. I prefer stone to brick, but have familiarity with both. And I know if a structure has a weak foundation, its roof will leak in short order.

Having a sixth grade girl bring a gun to school, and shoot people, is very clear evidence of the storm coming with a force that could destroy our society's roof. We need to be focused on this. Yet we must, at the same time, recognize this is due to the weakening of the foundations of our society.

There is no time to wait. Time is neutral, as Dr. King told us. And the forces of a storm of decay has gathered, and continues to gain strength. Stay active in social-political efforts. We can all make contributions. Anyone who has convinced you that your contribution isn't of value or needed has lied to you. It really is up to us.

Peace,
H2O Man