Why Daddy Drinks

How's this for a morning rush even more intense than that from a Starbucks triple espresso: the phone call from a frantic Mrs. Po at 8:30 this morning that "someone's in the (daughter #2's) high school with a gun."

That gets one's attention in a hurry. And immediately spikes the heart rate. The stories of incidents in other cities and towns flash back before you, and get you thinking - where is the gun-toting student? Is there more than one? What's the issue here? And you realize the worst thing of all - there isn't a damned thing that a parent can do, except hope for the best and fight back the emotions that pour forth when, eerily concurrent with the end of the phone call, my laptop's screensaver kicks in and flashes a photo of daughter #2, taken at the high school, last year at daughter #1's graduation.

Add to this the fact that Mrs. Po's elementary school is a stone's throw from the high school, and she not only has to deal with the fact that her child is in a locked-down school, but also with a classroom of third graders who are similarly locked-down and in the classroom.

I could go into my anti-gun rant here, or link you to Cheryl Wheeler's great song about a similar situation that ended in tragedy, but the fact of the matter is that anyone with an axe to grind about anything, who may or may not be mentally unstable enough to act on it, can act out and cause a tragedy to happen -- but it's a heck of a lot more dangerous, because virtually anyone in this country can get a handgun just as easily as they can get a pack of cigarettes or a bag of Doritos. (Oops...guess that was a mini-rant.)

Thankfully, the incident was resolved quickly and without injury - turns out that someone saw the student enter the high school with the gun, immediately reported it to staff, and all schools were locked down AFTER the student left the building, and he was apprehended (hopefully with techniques similar to those the Bush Administration endorses for dealing with "enemy combatants") in a nearby neighborhood about an hour later. I still feel like I'm running at 120 mph, though.

Daughter #2 did call on her cell phone (probably a violation of school rules, but I think the kids were deservedly cut a little slack today) an hour or so later, which was a relief. Several students had left to go home, but she figured there was enough police protection around there that she didn't want to. She assured me she was fine, but I figured I'd use the time-tested technique of prompting for dialogue from the movie "Airplane!" to check her anxiety level:

"So are you OK now? Were you nervous?"

"A little bit."

"First time?"

"No, I've been nervous before."

Yeah, she's OK, for now. But she may need to join Mrs. Po and I for a cocktail and a big hug this evening.

From the Air...

Everyone on this and every other planet (including the late, lamented Pluto) seems to have weighed in on the fifth anniversary of the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks. All I'll add to the mix, as I wait (with some anxiety) to board an airplane at Philly International, is that it would be refreshing to see a fraction of the energy spent on retrospectives, Administration photo-ops, and haggling over design of memorials redirected toward understanding of why 9/11 happened (arguably, American imperialism and arrogance) and the spirit of charity, volunteerism, and non-partisan unity that seemed to permeate our country in the days after 9/11, sadly to have disappeared long before this fifth anniversary.

If we remember anything, let it be those who lost loved ones and those who gave their lives attempting to save the victims. Let's forget about replaying the video over and over again, the flag-waving God-Bless-Us chest-pounding, etc...shame on those that, to this day, use 9/11 to elicit fear, promote violence, and increase division among the American people, as well as between us and those who disagree with us. As it has been said, God blesses everyone - no exceptions. A simple lesson, at the heart of most every faith, completely foreign to our national leadership and thousands of magnetic-ribbon-on-SUV drones.

Along those lines, I have to share the message from a church sign that I saw recently, one that is egregious on SO many levels:

FOR ALL YOU DO
HIS BLOOD'S FOR YOU

Ewww, theologically and otherwise. Where do these fundamentalist churches get this crap? Are there factories somewhere where hordes of low-paid workers sit on assembly lines and think up this tripe, overseen by supervisors who thump them with Bibles (modern translation, with color pictures, no doubt) to increase their simpleton productivity? Can members of these churches, relishing the cheap, no-thought-required, grace heaped upon them, spell Bonhoeffer or Barth?

Saw the aforementioned sign while traveling to deliver Daughter #1 to college to start her freshman year, an age-affirming and somewhat traumatic event observed later that evening by the ceremonial consumption of Scotch (me) or Bourbon (mom) whiskey. Kind of strange, still, to have one fewer person in the house, though Daughter #2 is enjoying the spotlight, and her sister's stereo, though she is ambivalent over the sister's chores that she has assumed. Not to mention the full, focused force of Evil Parental Oversight.

We received word last week (via instant message, which I advised is NOT the medium for such news) from Daughter #1 that she has acquired a tattoo during her first week at school. ("But not a tramp-stamp, Dad.". Right.) After the initial flare of temper subsided, Mom and I realized that there really isn't a damn thing we can do about it - she is, after all, 18. As I noted, adults are free to make their own idiotic decisions. How else can we explain how Bush/Cheney was elected twice?

Boarding the plane. Nice to see so many fewer carryon bags. Could use a drink, though...

(Postscript: the movie on the plane was "Poseidon." United Airlines' attempt to make us feel better about air travel??)