Lockdown for Life

A few weeks ago my school had a lockdown drill with the students.  This came after another lockdown drill we had with faculty previously.  What's a lockdown?  We pretend there's an intruder in the building, and go about the moves we'd use to secure our rooms and our students.  Scary?  Yes.  Essential?  More than one can imagine.

There were three parts to the mock lockdown procedure with the students.  In the afternoon as I reflected on my drive home (when don't I reflect on the drive home?), I thought about how the drill truly relates to life.  The three parts of the drill were evacuate, barricade, and counter.  Here we go.

Evacuate - There are times in life when you need to run.  And you need to run FAST!  One gets into situations that are just wrong, and you cannot look back.  You have to look foward, trust your instincts, and listen to everything around you.  Run, run, run as far as you can.  Run into the woods!  As we told the kids at school, someone safe will eventually find you, so go as deep into the woods as you can.  Hiding out isn't always necessarily a bad thing.  Sometimes it's a necessity.  Know when you need to run from things and not look back.  This isn't a bad thing.  Not everything should be held onto like a "recuerdo," a souvenir.  Trust your instincts.  Run, dammit!

Barricade - Protect that heart of yours!  I grabbed the TV cord and held it tight, with my foot against a wall so that the intruder wouldn't enter my classroom.  I was determined.  My barricade would not let loose, and should it be real, all would be ok.  Keep yourself protected.  Is this harsh?  Maybe a bit.  As I get older I think I get a bit more jaded about things like this.  No one else is going to go to bat for you except yourself.  Princesses carry Starbucks Goldcards, I'm convinced, and drive Volvos.  Gosh, am I biased a bit or just psychic?  Seriously, you and only you are responsible for your own crap.  Get out of it and get into something more fun.  Deal with the bad hands you've been dealt.  Why? Because someone else has had a hand MUCH worse dealt to them.  (Read entries about dad with dementia...and those to come...and the leukemia entries...and all that my amazing niece has been through...or maybe I'm just too chicken to write about all those issues...)

Counter - Muwahahahaha.  This is my favorite.  Fight back!  Go get 'em, tiger!  My students went at the perp with a stapler, hand-made ceramic bowls, and a box of stuffed animals.  I had my staple gun in hand.  Man, that thing can do serious damage!  FIGHT BACK!  When life gives you lemons, yadda yadda yadda.  Screw the freakin' lemonade.  Is it just me, or are we all sick of that expression about lemons making lemonade?  Go at life full force!  Give it all you got!  This is the one chance you have, and you won't get a second one, as scary as that sounds.  Yes, some days this makes me hide underneath my pillow and check my cell phone for how many more minutes I have to sleep, but suck it up!  COUNTER!  Bring it on!  When life gives you lemons, mush them into little pieces and ask those craptolas if they are organic or not.  Humiliate them. Bring them to their knees.  COUNTER!  Fight back.  That's all you have to do.  Because there is no other choice.

Lockdown for life.  Remember there are choices.  And each one we have makes us stronger.  And strong we are.