A Day that Is Less Idyllic: Active Shooter Training and Travel Delays

In case my life seems too idyllic, let me record the events of yesterday, so that I remember that it's not all uplifting teaching and preaching with poetry and sermon writing.  And let me spoil the suspense by saying it was all minor stuff really, in the longer range view.  But it made for a very long day.

I had to leave early because yesterday was the last scheduled day of Active Shooter training that we're all required to take.  This year, because we're shifting to a new system, we had to actually find 2 hours when we could sit in an auditorium to be trained in what to do if an active shooter comes to our campus.  Yesterday was the only training time, and there were many, which didn't conflict with a class that I was teaching.  I needed to be in the auditorium by 9, and I knew that there was road construction, so I left by 7:30--happily, there was no road construction.

In so many ways, this Active Shooter training never changes.  The only change that was mentioned is that past trainings told us that hiding was an option, but we want to move away from that thinking, because if the shooter finds our hiding place, there's no escape.

I wrote to a grad school friend while the training was happening--a real old-fashioned letter written by hand on paper.  I didn't want to try to balance a laptop on the auditorium chair without a desk, but writing a letter was doable.  I wanted to write to someone who would share my being aghast and sad at the thought that we now need this training.  Our grad school selves would never believe it.

I went on to have a good teaching day and headed to the car, ready to go home for a quick supper before a Zoom call to help with retreat planning.  It was not to be.

My commute usually takes no more than an hour.  Three hours later, I was still sitting on I 26, occasionally moving an inch or two.  I thought I was in some road construction hell, but it turned out to be a horrible accident that had shut down the interstate.  I sent a text to one of my fellow retreat planners to let her know that I wouldn't be at the meeting.

I got home to my supper which was cozy and lovely, and then I went straight to bed.  Happily, there was no reason that I needed to keep muscling through the day.

As I said, as bad days go, it could have been much worse.  I am now trained for an active shooter event, training that I don't expect to ever need to use.  I do understand all the liability reasons why schools want us to get this training.  

Bookending my day was the road accident, but it was not my accident.  I saw the smashed cars when I finally drove past, and I said a prayer for the victims, along with a prayer of thanks that it only impacted me in inconvenience, not in something more essential.