Teachers are consistently becoming collateral damage to other people’s inner demons. It is time to raise awareness about this.
The Uvalde teacher, the one the authorities accused of leaving the door open that allowed the shooter in the school (the shooter who was also a TEEN!!!!), has had to hire a lawyer because of this. The authorities added to her trauma and the report says her body was shaking and she was completely heartbroken. That is trauma showing up in her body. The lack of care for a teacher who just went through unimaginable tragedy is so revealing of the times we are living in.
What was the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah? It was radical inhospitality. The people were overfed and unconcerned.
Since this is Pride Month, I am also going to let this be another clearing up of sin we as a community have committed against our LGBTQIA+ siblings. This passage has been irresponsibly and dangerously used by Christians who are anti-gay; and, ironically, they are the ones who are consistently guilty of what the passage actually means. I am so sorry this trauma has been placed in your bodies by bad theology. You should not be the collateral damage of someone’s theology as Sarah Bessey says.
The trauma we are inflicting on each other is severe because we as a nation, society, community, and people are not doing the healing work our bodies desperately need. We are continuing to do the same damn things and think all of the victims coming out of the system are just bad people and not the system itself.
Our bodies are not made to carry all of this trauma and the helpers are the ones being crucified because the toxic system is what tries to save itself.
Desmond Tutu said this: “There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river.
We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.”
The door thing would not even be an issue if any of our political leaders had passed any gun laws. Our political leaders and all leaders who have power over people’s lives are not taking any responsibility for how they have not only contributed but are also largely the reason we are in this situation. And there are other issues with having to keep the door closed at all times. The system is completely broken. We have to pass gun laws. We also need to get trauma informed. Teachers are the ones at the intersection of all the pain and are taking the blame.
Make it stop.
This cycle of abuse has got to stop.
Schools are not the enemy. Teachers are not the enemy. It is time for a change.
There is Life Out There 