Guns, schools & safety, Texas style

Is the NRA serious?  Armed guards at all schools?

One week after the tragedy at Newtown where 20 children and 6 adults were killed, the powerful rifle association spoke out, saying our country needs to put an armed guard in every school in the nation. Just as our country does at banks, shopping malls and public facilities.

Can you imagine? Guards with guns don't fit the image of what a school should be: safe, a place of learning, young minds and budding ideals, right?

Yet the tragedy of Newtown is indeed a wake-up call that can't be ignored. We must keep our children safe! It's time to find a solution. The crazies with the assault rifles apparently aren't going away. Until our country bans citizens from having such, armed guards may be the best answer. And in Austin, Texas, just such a program has worked for more than 25 years.

The Austin Independent School District established its own police department as far back as 1986. With 68 officers, the department is charged to keep the 125 campuses, centers and adminstrative offices safe. The patrol division operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, year round. In 2008, the department became a recognized law enforcement agency under guidelines set by the state of Texas.

Beyond protection, the AISD Police Department also has a Junior Police Academy, which works with middle school students to motivate them "to be outstanding citizens through law enforcement education. An expansion of community policing, JPA transform the traditional role of the police officer into one of mentor and friend, while encouraging our young citizens to be partners, not adversaries, in building safer schools and communities."
________________________________________________

• Cherubs For Children, Inc.

________________________________________________

The canine unit adds safety of another level,  working to detect the odor of illegal narcotics and nitrates and components of explosives -- certainly threat issues to the safety of students.

While many across the country on Friday afternoon absorb the words of the NRA, some will be against it and others support it. Even some residents of Newtown said it's "off the mark."  One parent's reaction was that it will instill more fear in the children.

I beg to differ.

Had there been police on campus, would the gunman have been so ready and able to burst his way in and kill? Did not that horrific event of Dec. 14 "instill fear" in the Sandy Hook Elementary School children, especially now the young survivors, who may be terrified of going back to a classroom, scarred for life?

Police and security are there for protection. It seems to work well at AISD in Austin. I suspect most students feel confident that any violence will be acted upon by those trained officers -- and teachers won't have to step into the line of fire as the first defense.

It may not be a perfect solution, guards in schools, but from this part of Central Texas, a police department focused on the safety of students seems to be working out just fine.

It's not the NRA that is killing our children.

Life changing - For Newtown and so many

It's been less than a week since the chaos and carnage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. The shattered dreams, lives and hearts will never be the same. It goes without saying that is the case for the families who lost a child.

Hundreds of thousands across the country -- no, world -- are shaken by this catastrophic event. So many are pained and injured by this assault on the innocent children, and it's time to take notice of the violence that we seem to just look away from instead of saying, "Enough!"

That likely includes the Lanza family, who lost two family members, survivors weighed with a heavy burden over what went wrong, who's responsible. Surely they never imagined their young man would commit such a heinous act. Surely they are choked with emotion and questions as is the rest of the country.

Much discussion is taking place about laws and guns and school safety -- do we add more barriers to places where are children should be naturally protected, in their schools? Do we restrict gun sales? Do we improve mental health care for those troubled by demons? So much, so many questions, and not all with clear-cut answers, but "yes" should win out.

In the end, I believe it gets down to the individual. What can each of us do? How do we make sense of this? How can I help? Is there anything I can do to stop the violence in our society?

I say, "Yes, there is." Because it takes one. One person can make a difference. One person can speak up, to another, and another and another -- to spread goodness and love and light when darkness seems to prevail. We each have a responsibility to "Love one another" and care.

To that end, I have been so moved by the shooting incident of Dec. 14, 2012, and formalized a nonprofit organization initially dedicated to raising money intended to help fund the construction of a permanent memorial for the Newtown shooting victims.

It's called "Cherubs For Children, Inc." and you can help make a difference today, with a donation.

I invite you to read the "Donate/About CFC" page to learn the "why" for this endeavor. Then I invite you to click on the "donate" link and contribute.

We are all part of the whole. We all, in our own ways, either spread love, or we spread hate. Take a stand -- choose to spread the Love and turn around this world of violence.

"Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish." (Luke 18:14 NKJ)

Deer doesn't dig this dude's display

This blog post is a reprint of an article I wrote for KXAN.com -- a story and video that has gone viral to unexpected places. It has all the great elements:  a cute animal, a strange story, and a bit of political humor in this election year. I invite you to read below and then watch the video (linked at the end), an interview with Tom and Beth Priem of Austin, TX.

It seemed a dastardly deed -- destroying the display of a devoted Democrat.

The homeowners didn't determine who, not once but four times, deliberately devastated the yard sign that depicted their beloved president, front-yard decor which said they were supporters of the dashing Barack Obama.

They decried the destruction. They didn't know how to deter the defamation -- a direct assault on their property. Was it the devil? Or simply a devious degenerate?

So Tom Priem's wife, Beth, did some detective work, determined to discover the despicable destroyer.

At daybreak Wednesday, with camera in hand and trusty dog, Charlie, by her side, she made a date to watch the drama unfold.

Undaunted, she was dazzled to catch the thief dead-on, daring as dawn broke.

Demur in his approach, the young deer danced on the lawn, the Obama sign caught in its antlers. Delicate creature, the sign dangled for a time, as the buck deftly flung it, dented, to the ground.

Beth snapped the photo just as it landed, destroyed -- proof that it wasn't a dream.

"Apparently, we have a Republican deer in our neighborhood!" said Tom. "The funny thing is, I haven't seen any other signs damaged. The people directly across the street have four signs, the person across the street and to the left has two, and the next house to the left has one. We can't figure out why the deer is attacking our signs.

"We do have a dog, Charlie, who goes crazy when he sees the deer."

Definitely a dilemma.
_________________

View the video on KXAN.com

(Final note: In all fairness of equal time for candidates, here is a link to the Mitt Romney website, deer or no deer!)

Age 60 and (still?) sexy!

OK. I'll admit it. Today's my birthday. It's a big one. Marking another decade is a bit daunting -- and yet, in the end, it's just another day, right? The sun comes up and goes down. At this point, I've also outlived my mother's age at her death by exactly three weeks. God rest her soul.

Today President Obama comes to Austin, the city where I live. I've kidded friends and family that he's coming for my birthday. Of course, he's not. He's coming to raise money for his re-election campaign, of which I won't be a donor. Hey, I'm the one who's supposed to get presents today! And I don't have an extra  $25,000 lying around, which is the admission cost to one of of his evening events.

That said, I also share this birthdate with Phyllis Diller and Art Linkletter. (Remember them?) And the sexy (though a bit crazy) David Hasselhoff. While I don't know what time of day he was born to determine by minutes or hours who is the older, I can say we were both doing the same thing on that day: being born into this chaotic world.

Another rockin' guy I share this birthdate with is the infamous Donald Sutherland -- love him! What an actor.Though he's done a great number of films and television shows, my two favorites are "Kelly's Heroes" and "Eye of the Needle" -- his character in the latter was frightning, yet compelling. His role in the former was just plain hilarious and unforgettable as the stoned tank driver in the comical but serious war movie. I first saw it in the auditorium on the University of Illinois campus with friends. Watched it a dozen times since, as well.

And let's not forget British royalty -- even if by (scandalous) marriage. Today is also the birthday of Camilla Parker-Bowles, the wife of Prince Charles. Who knew? Though much older than age 60, she too will cut the birthday cake today.

Singer Diahann Carroll shares this Cancer birthdate, as does actor James Cagney, and famed author Earl Stanley Gardner. As a former lawyer, his later books about "Perry Mason" was the first series I got hooked on reading while in junior high school.

And so it's just another day. While I'll spend it at work -- helping cover the visit of President Obama -- I'm in pretty good company with those who today, too, will blow out (many) candles and listen to choruses of the "Happy Birthday" song. Maybe the next time I mark another decade, I'll get that trip to Hawaii or Italy I've been dreaming about. Today I've got a president to pay attention to.

Sieze the day!

A Mother's Day Reflection

Mother’s Day was on Sunday and it has been nearly 21 years since the baton passed from when I used to celebrate my own mother on this springtime holiday, to being the woman whose children celebrate her. My mother died on a summer day in mid-July, nearly a lifetime ago, three days before my birthday. I first saw her laid out in the casket on my birthday, her first born, wondering why the coincidence, why on this day of all days were we burying her, at the time of year when she brought me into the world? I never got an answer to that question, but I’ve long since settled the issue in my soul. It just is, and I count my passing years alongside the number of years she’s been in heaven.

Some of her grandchildren weren’t born when she died – my youngest sister was pregnant with her first child when mom passed away, her body ravaged by the disease of pancreatic cancer. And so in the lifetimes of my sister’s three children, none of them ever knew the woman who nurtured us and died entirely too young. They know “Grandma Margie” only from pictures and those long-ago family home movies.

After she died, I found myself looking closely at my face in the mirror each day, searching for signs of how I looked like her. It was part of the grieving process, wanting to hang onto any piece of her that I could. Most of my life, I seemed to resemble more my father, up until the past 10 years or so. As I’ve aged and near the age she was when she died, I see her in fleeting expressions, and it makes me gasp just a little. I see her in my joys and in my sadnesses, remembering what she looked like when I’d watch her live those times.

Because she died before I’d experienced much of what it was to be a parent and an “adult” handling life, I didn’t know what she thought or how she viewed the world. I was too busy being a young mother myself, raising children, working full-time, working out life with their father, while she lived in another state, a thousand miles away.

Now I look back, having gone through the stages she did, and see what she must have understood about the world. I feel what she must have felt about life back then. Her children growing up, no longer tiny underfoot, needing this, needing that from her allowed her to spread her wings and indulge her wants and pleasure. She had more alone time with my father, as well. Our lives weren’t always perfect, but the good times with family greatly outweighed the bad.

It’s an odd time, to become as old as one’s parents. My father has since passed away, too, just two years ago. He was lucky enough to find love a second time and remarried, to a woman who my mother knew and liked, and actually hinted about to him in her last days.

In reflecting on this Mother’s Day, I value the blessings my mother gave to me. Faith in God, love of music, appreciation for art and creativity, the importance of working hard, working well, being nice to people, staying strong in difficulties, doing for friends and being close to family – that was who my mother was at her core, and I celebrate her. Those are the lessons she taught me before she died.

I can only hope she’s looking down from heaven and thinks I learned her lessons well.

Happy Mother’s Day, Margaret Louise. With love from your daughter, now a Texan.

In Sickness and In Health, the Prince Reigns

A friend shared some news with me this week about the health of her young son that left me numb and silent, thinking of the difficult road ahead for her family. She is a woman of faith, with innate strength that will carry her through. First she and her husband must sort through the turmoil of the diagnosis of Tourette Syndrome.

They have had their 4-year-old son undergo numerous tests the past few months, trying to determine what was wrong. He’s been developmentally behind. He’s shown symptoms that may have been mere allergies. In the end, it was an unexpected diagnosis that has sent their world spinning and now will change their family in ways unknown at this stage.

My friend shared the news with me on the same day other friends posted photos on their Facebook pages in memory of their only son, who would have been 28 that day – he had died four years ago of an incurable brain tumor. A Christian family, as well, the tragedy was overwhelming to them and members of our church because he was a young man full of life, of faith, one who had served in other countries on mission trips as a teenager. Bright smile, bright eyes and a seemingly bright future.

As I processed their situations in my head, I was reminded of another life-altering occurrence in the life of a third friend, years ago. She and I were members of a writing group, she an editor at a major Christian publishing house. She had her first child at age 27. It was an exciting time, one shared with group members amid writing projects, her tummy larger each month, growing with life inside. But her world was turned upside-down when the beautiful baby girl born to her and her husband had Down Syndrome.

The fairy tales we hear as young girls talk of princes who rescue (we) damsels, and the loving couples head off into the sunset, happily ever after. Nothing in those tales prepares us for the tragedies and losses that are more often the reality than a glass slipper fitting or a pot of gold tangible at the end of a rainbow.

Yet, the life of a Christian can often be one of suffering. The loss of a child surely the hardest among earthly trials. I’ve been fortunate that, thus far, my offspring have not suffered from severe health issues. My own pain has been of another kind, unplanned endings of relationships – the princes in reality not those of fairy tales, not the happily ever after hoped and prayed for. And life goes on.

As Christians, we know that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, suffered greatly during His time on Earth, savagely beaten and tortured as a sacrifice to atone for our sins, past, present and future. He knew what it was like to lose someone he loved (Lazarus), and saw the tremendous suffering in the world as he healed the sick throughout his earthly ministry. He sees and understands our human pains.

Each of us has sad stories to tell, of loss, of suffering, of feeling ‘cheated’ out of what we thought was supposed to happen. We can’t always know the reasons why losses happen the way they do. We question. We rant and rail in anger at the unfairness of life, of course. And it’s damn hard at times! Yes, devastating. But God can handle our anger, the same way a loving parent comforts a toddler who might be crying and angry over something unfair in his or her little world. Life is not about ‘us,’ but about how we relate to God and to others, and what we make of what we’ve been given.

We are called to have faith, turn to Him in our pain, and trust Him in the plan He has laid out. God sees the big picture that we cannot. He knows why he put each and every one of us on this Earth, and what lies ahead. He does indeed make good out of bad – or mixes good in with the bad, providing little miracles if you watch for them.

I don’t know why there is Terrette Syndrome, Down Syndrome or brain tumors in this world. I don’t know why some babies are born perfectly healthy, and others’ lives end on the day they enter the world -- or why some lose their jobs, and others go on to make millions, why some marriages end, and others are lifelong commitments.

What I do know is that God is greater than any of our tragedies. And this life on Earth is only temporary. We have to approach what life throws at us with courage, strength and determination. We have to hold our heads up, live with integrity, honesty, doing just the very best we can. We were made in His image. We’ve got the strength of the Father in our veins. Let us not be so overwhelmed by our pain that we can’t see the love and blessings He provides through friends, family and even strangers as we navigate the emotional terrain of this (sometimes very ungodly) world.

In the end, the only real Prince there is resides in Heaven. And that’s the best, truest fairy tale of all.