Kevin [Content Note: Today’s post contains mention of a very tragic turn of events at an elementary school in Texas, involving an active shooter. If this is something you need to take into consideration, I encourage you to give today’s post a miss, and go check out some of my other stuff instead. If you decide to move forward w/ it, and it brings up some difficult feelings for you, I encourage you to reach out to the peeps at the Crisis Text Line.]
I had other plans for today’s post, but after what happened yesterday in Uvalde, Texas, I think it can go on the back burner until later.
If you’ve been following the news reports, an active shooter who will remain nameless and genderless, came to Robb Elementary School on Tuesday, armed with guns, entered the school, and murdered 21, including two teachers. The students were in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades. According to the Wikipedia article, most of them died at the scene, and two died at the hospital.
For the purpose of this post, I will be referring to the active shooter as “the shooter.” Some things I’ve read talk about mental illness as the cause of the shooter’s choices. I won’t name them, but they’re not hard to seek out.
I should also mention that I struggle w/ mental illness from a variety of sources, the most recent being this life sentence of a job search, and watching my mom basically commit a slow suicide from her lifestyle. None of this has made me go postal and do sick shyt like this, and it never will.
Sure, mental illness probably didn’t help matters any w/ the shooter. However, whatever mental illnesses the shooter was dealing with didn’t make them decide to murder little kids who ain’t done a damn thing to them on Tuesday.
Those little kids had their breakfasts, got ready, and walked out the door. They got on the bus, walked w/ their friends, or rode their bikes to school.
They arrived at school to learn new things, play at recess, and have that age-old cafeteria staple of lunch lady pizza.
They had Show and Tell. They had story time. They had math tests. They had spelling tests. One of them even earned honor roll status, and that was Alexandria Aniyah Rubio.
Amerie Jo Garza was always so helpful and caring to other kids. According to this piece, she even called 911 on her cell phone when the shooter came to Robb.
These kids ain’t done anything to anyone. They were busy being kids, busying themselves w/ kids’ doings. Their biggest worries in life shoulda been what’s happening on their favorite TV shows, or an upcoming book report.
Instead, their lives were tragically cut short due to someone’s hatred. The shooter had posted about their plans on social media just before they arrived at the school, and nobody took them seriously. At first glance, it’s probably easy to dismiss it as hyperbole from a pissed-off keyboard warrior w/ an ax to grind.
The shooter didn’t know these kids or the teachers from Adam or Eve. These kids and the teachers all had their whole damn lives ahead of them. These kids were all going places in life, same as the kids and the teachers who were killed at Sandy Hook in 2012.
According to this post over at People, this is a list of the victims at Robb Elementary, in no specific order.
Irma Garcia
Xavier Lopez
Uziyah Garcia
Alexandria Aniyah Rubio
Jose Flores
Tess Mata
Amerie Jo Garza
Jayce Luevanos (cousin to Jailah Nicole Silguero)
Miranda Mathis
Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez (cousin to Jackie Cazares)
Jackie Cazares (cousin to Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez)
Ellie Garcia
Alithia Ramirez
Rojelio Torres
Makenna Lee Elrod
Nevaeh Bravo
Maite Yuleana Rodriguez
Jailah Nicole Silguero (cousin to Jayce Luevanos)
Miranda Mathis
Eliahana “Elijah” Torres
Speak my name and I’ll live forever. Let’s honor the memories of these kids. We can start by advocating for better checks and balances on gun ownership. The shooter at Robb Elementary, along w/ the shooter at Sandy Hook, and the shooter at the Tops store in Buffalo had no business anywhere near a gun.
Over to you, readers. How’re you holding up in this clusterfuck of a world? If you’ve been directly or indirectly affected by this, know that my heart goes out to you, and I feel w/ you. I’d love to hear your thoughts and takeaways, so drop ’em like they’re hot, and let’s talk.
