Rock, Paper, Scissors

A school in PA got a creative idea: it stocks up on rocks to defend itself from school shooting. Traditionally, schools have ample supplies of papers and scissors. With rocks, it completes the Rock, Paper and Scissors set. Quite a sad state of affairs in public schools, whose walk-outs will stage a “March For Our Lives” tomorrow.

I have had my shares of eye-witnessing the uprising VC’s getting hunted down on the rooftops (the year was 1968, and the event was Tet. The same timeframe and locale as the infamous execution shot that turned the corner for the Vietnam War).  School was out for weeks. When it was safe enough for Walter Cronkite to record his “stalemate” stand-up piece,  we were allowed to return. I remember wanting to go back to school so badly after weeks of  watching the repeat of B/W documentary on the massacre in Hue.

I empathize with Parkland and Maryland students in their stages of grief: survivor guilt then paranoid (what if I am not as lucky to make it out alive the next time around). Later on in life, I found the cure for those nagging fears: by lending a hand to others, I am no longer pre-occupied by guilt and fears.

Today’s youngsters take on a different calling: they mobilize using mobile phones. It seemed as if the Arab-Spring adrenaline finally flowed back and flushed away fear and fatalism. I wish them well, forever young. Those forced times away from school taught me more than while I was inside the classroom: I was fast-forwarded into adulthood, into pre-maturity and  reflection about what it meant to be human, what values are worthy and how do we go about spreading peace, honor and goodwill.

Rock, paper, scissors. My childhood disappeared in a blink of an eye in Tet 68. To Parkland and Maryland students: don’t get swept away, but at the same time, you may find yourself while losing it. I speak from an aching heart: my 16-year-old daughter is also in school in FL. I find myself overwhelmed when reflecting on what I went through when growing-up in comparison. May positive changes come soon for her generation’s benefits.