While there are many reasons I choose to live abroad ...
Yesterday, in my last period class, we had a lockdown drill (already scheduled prior to recent US events). For those of you in the US, this is a regular occurrence at US schools among all the other drills like fire, tornado, and earthquake. Why would this be something to write about? Unfortunately, in the years since I’ve become a teacher, lockdown and active shooter drills have become commonplace in the US. As a student, I think we did MAYBE one lockdown drill in my later years, if any. As a teacher in the US, we had lockdown drills at least once or twice per year but they were always “soft” lockdowns … lock you and your students in the classroom but keep teaching. Once we legitimately had to lockdown for 2 hours due to an armed suspicious person in the park adjacent to campus. Luckily, I never had to experience running active shooter drills while teaching in the US. If I had, I honestly don’t think I’d still be teaching today. Being a teacher is stressful enough, we don’t need that added pressure of looking after the literal lives of our students. My first year in Vietnam, we only ever had fire drills as that’s basically the only bad thing that would ever happen at school. My second year in Vietnam, we added a lockdown drill. I don’t remember why we decided to add it but when it’s presented to the students it’s explained as “In the US … [cue depressing/scary explanation] … you want to hide from whoever is on campus. Be absolutely silent. Here we’re just doing it as a precaution should anything ever happen. Most likely, it would be an angry parent or a wild animal on campus, but it’s not anything to worry about.” This is the part that depresses and, recently, enrages me. The vast majority of our students have never lived in the US. They should have no fear of someone coming to campus with the intent to cause physical harm to them, and rightfully so. Guns in Vietnam are rare and definitely illegal for citizens to own. I can count the handful of guns I’ve seen in 4 years. All of them have either been strapped to one of the military police on duty at the central government buildings or chained to the table at the shooting range at Cu Chi Tunnels near Ho Chi Minh City. Even regular cops only carry a baton. If you want to cause physical harm to someone in Vietnam, you’d have to use your fists, some other weapon (kitchen knife, machete, or broom handle most likely) or run them down with your car/motorbike. Yes, our students come to us for an “American style educational experience” … but can’t we leave the trauma of lockdowns and guns out of that charming cultural experience? What is so wrong about wanting to preserve some childhood innocence? And all of this coming on the heels of the VERY recent shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. … and the Laguna Woods Church shooting before that … and the Buffalo, NY supermarket shooting before that … all within the last 2 weeks. Before that, as of May 14, the US has seen 213 mass shootings in 2022. Excuse my language but that is fucked up. Not that I was ever super super patriotic to begin with but at least starting with the pandemic, I get more and more disillusioned with the US. I do not think that we are the greatest nation in the world. I do not think that it is a great place to live and raise a family. I would not consider it the “land of opportunity” if you’re born there. I do not think it is doing its best to preserve “LIFE, liberty and the PURSUIT of HAPPINESS”. Oh, we do a great job of protecting people’s individual liberties and those of corporations … but is that really above LIFE and the PURSUIT of HAPPINESS?!? Multiple times this year, I’ve found myself chatting at lunch with colleagues about the state of affairs in the US, how ridiculous certain policies and systems are, and why we almost unanimously agree we cannot live, work, or raise a family in America anymore. If it weren’t for the strength of the American passport and family ties, many of us would consider choosing new countries that we could proudly call home. For those of you in America, I implore you to be outraged by current events. Do not accept the idea that “most gun owners safely store and lock up their guns”... what about those that don’t or only think they do. Do not accept the idea that “gun owners have to have a background check” … what about auctions, pawn shops, inherited guns, and under the table markets. FFS, even WalMart sells guns. It baffles me that so many people rally for pro-life causes and yet are also pro-gun ownership. You can’t safely have it both ways. The same lives you’re trying to bring into the world are then going to unsafe schools, shopping centers, churches and losing their lives to senseless violence and bigotry. I’ve seen many news articles this week saying things like “The key to stopping these tragedies is for society to be alert to these warning signs and act on them immediately.” …. Umm, no. The key to stopping these tragedies is to ban gun ownership for private citizens. If you want to shoot, go rent a gun at the gun range. If you want to hunt, you’re supposed to have a permit for that anyway so why not go ahead and rent a gun for the day too in a supervised hunting area. Or hell, learn to bow hunt. It seems more like a fun challenge anyways. Yes, I accept that shady deals will always happen. There will always be some loose guns unaccounted for. But is it honestly 100% necessary to your LIFE and PURSUIT of HAPPINESS that you own your own personal gun? Will the “thoughts and prayers” people are offering up right now save any lives from gun violence in the future? No. Be outraged. Be pro-living. Be outspoken for your children, grandchildren, neighbors, and friends. This state of affairs in America cannot go on. Not everyone is as lucky as I was to be able to choose a better life in another country. Apologies for the rant, no apologies for the opinions.
1 Comment
Crystal
27/5/2022 06:33:43 pm
That is an interesting view, but having been abroad my fair share, I definitely see where you're coming from! As a random aside, Walmart cut back on gun sales starting 2018 and quit selling all guns and ammo (at least the kind that require background checks) in 2019. Now they just sell BB guns and pellet gun type things. Which is probably good considering how little security/staffing they routinely did not have in that area anyway.
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