Please Respond
Many people have emailed me to comment on what they have read here – general impressions and thoughts after reading the students’ writing. These comments have moved me and filled me with gratitude, and I would like to post them here, in the comments to this page.
If you would be willing to leave a comment after reading, please write it in the comment box below. Please realize that to control the culture and environment of this blog, I will moderate all comments, so they will not appear until I have approved them – a decision I would appreciate our local newspaper considering in such a situation.
I will set the tone by posting an email I received from my brother-in-law, who was working on Capitol Hill on September 11, 2001, and I will admit to you that this letter, read at the moment I read it, left me in tears.
Thank you for your interest in our stories. Ultimately, it’s a community’s story.
Sincerely your teacher,
Mr. Sheehy
April 18th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
Hi Geoff:
If I were to write a blog entry in response to those of your students, this is what it would say.
I just spent a good half hour reading your students’ blog entries on “Stories of the Central Lockdown.” Every word of each and every one.
I was impressed. It’s amazing to me how similar the themes can be, yet they can be told in a very different manner with varying details.
I felt like I was almost reliving the experience with them. Like I was sitting on the floor in a corner of a classroom, in the dark, in the silence. Like I could hear the SWAT team members banging on the classroom door, then entering with their “three foot long” “big machine guns,” “bullet vest[s]” and “sharp” clothing.
Reading these entries reminded me of my own experience on 9/11 and many occasions thereafter in Washington, DC.
In particular, I can completely connect with your students who wrote that there was a singular moment in which they realized the event unfolding was real; it was no longer a joke or a trivial matter.
On 9/11 and on several occasions thereafter, there was a clear, precise moment on each date when I realized, “This is for real.” And on many occasions those around me experienced the same realization at roughly the same moment. You could see it in their faces and even hear it in the silence as we raced down the stairwells to exit the building.
I often think back and remember that it was not on September 11, 2001 when I was the most afraid about what was occurring around me. It was on the dates that followed.
On 9/11, everything happened so fast that few people—if any—were able to grasp what was truly happening. It was all so different than anything we’d experienced. We knew it was real, but it was incomprehensible.
After 9/11, everyone now understood what could happen. So when evacuations took place, everyone took them seriously. Even if the calm looks of the Capitol Police told us it was just a drill.
The next time students at Central High School are told to go into lockdown mode, in that first moment upon hearing the words, very few will think “Oh, it’s probably just another hoax.” Because now they understand, in a way the television cannot convey, what could have happened. And it could have happened right there in little old Rapid City. Just like Columbine, or Virginia Tech.
- Aaron
April 19th, 2007 at 9:58 pm
Mr. Sheehy,
Thank you for giving students a place to share their feelings and stories. I am a 2000 graduate of Central High School and my brother and sister are current students. The lockdown at Central High School terrified and I raced to Albertsons and then to the Civic Center as fast as I could. And although as time passed with no gunshots I began to feel calmer, My fear did not end until I saw my brother and sister file toward the Civic Center. And of course they were in teh last few groups. This has been a fear of mine since Columbine and even thoughout my college years and I always knew that this would be a terrifying experience, but my mind never let me really consider the “what if” of such an occurence. Now I have no choice. Reading the experience of others has reinforced to me that my fear that day was the fear of many and that is was and continues to be justified. I thank all of the teachers for protecting their students and I think law nforcement and the school handled this situation perfectly. I would have expected no less of a serious reaction. Thank you all. My fear of the real thing happening some day will never go away, but it reassures me to know that there is a solid reaction in place. Thank you again.
April 20th, 2007 at 8:45 am
These posts, taken together, are a strong statement of hope (reflecting the basic human need for love) as a response to terror. A song couldn’t have sung it more beautifully. And I keep wondering what a SWAT uniform, up close and personal, would look/feel like…. and hope I never find out.
- Dr. Engstrom, USD