Thoughts About Newtown and Teaching....

I don't often write about topics in the news that are not specifically linked to the Jewish world either through the Torah portion or through current events, but this week's tragedy in an elementary school in Connecticut is on my mind.

As a teacher, I think about the safety of the children in my classroom every day.  My fellow teachers and I rehearse code red drills, carry bags of supplies and emergency lists everywhere we go, and make sure that we are connected to the school by walkie-talkies when ever we venture out on the playground.  What a different world it is now for teachers and students than it was 20 years ago!  Security is no longer taken for granted.

With that said, the sad truth is that in many ways, school still is one of the safest environments for many of our children.  At school, adults work endlessly to ensure that the physical, emotional, intellectual needs of each child are met.  When kids come to school hungry we know that they can't learn on an empty stomach, so we take care of the problem.  When they feel sick or get hurt we take care of them until their families can come to take them home.  When they are anxious, sad, or scared, we take the time to talk, problem-solve, and practice strategies to help them cope.  We make referrals to counselors, social-workers, and mentoring programs.  Teachers do not just teach subjects, they teach children!  They do not just love what they teach, but who they teach!

As you can tell by the heroism of the teachers in Newtown, Ct., teaching goes beyond opening up a text book and writing on a whiteboard.  It is about meeting the needs of children in the best of times and in the worst of times.  May our country never have to experience such a tragedy again...we have suffered enough of these awful scenarios of barbaric cruelty and hatred.  May our young have the opportunity to grow up in a society that figures out how to break this cycle of violence. 

Somehow, the following words of Debbie Friedman (z'l) come to mind as I reflect on this past week:

Childhood was for fantasies, for nursery rhymes and toys.
The world was much too busy to understand small girls and boys.
As I grew up, I came to learn that life was not a game,
That heroes were just people that we called another name.
And the old shall dream dreams, and the youth shall see visions,
And our hopes shall rise up to the sky.
We must live for today; we must build for tomorrow.
Give us time, give us strength, give us life.