Another Day in Paradise

Guest Post by Gayle

I have been reflecting on yesterday’s incident in San Bernardino. I was in a public high school, substitute teaching groups of Advanced Placement math students, mostly seniors who are bright, good kids headed for four-year degrees (it doesn’t get any better for a sub).

Shootings in San Bernardino (not mass shootings) are routine. Many are related to gang violence. When the kids became aware of the shooting, they were not alarmed, just regular life in Berdoo going down. As time passed and the magnitude of the incident became obvious and lockdown was instituted, their interest was piqued, but there was still no alarm or distress evident. I exhibited the same reaction. I believe we have become numbed to these kids of incidents, now unable to register the horror that is an appropriate response. My main discomfort was being locked in a windowless classroom with 35 students and six extra teachers because one of them was doing a model lesson for the others during the lockdown period. After that lesson we still had another hour to go, so we hooked up TV to a projector and watched the news. Periodically someone would come by and try to open the door (probably security checking to see if our door remain locked). I began to feel claustrophobic. It’s OK with me if I am never locked down again.

Thankfully they sent everybody home at regular dismissal time, 2:35. All afterschool activities were cancelled. The atmosphere by now was very tense. As far as we knew the shooters were still unaccounted for. Unknown to us, the shootout was happening or had just happened. If I had taken one of my regular routes home, I would have headed for the street where it took place. I decided the freeway was the quickest way to get home, where I really wanted to be.

Redlands became a target of investigation late in the afternoon. There was still talk of one more suspect to be apprehended, so things became tense again. Friends began to call to see if I was all right. Around 4:30 I took my dog for a walk and observed all the helicopters (many press-related) in the sky. When I returned home around 5:00 the specific house (condo really) on Center St. had been identified and police activity was focused there. About this time the third suspect had been eliminated so worry about another crazy on the loose was no longer an issue.

An indicator of how propagandized we have become is the neighbor who was suspicious of persons and activities going on in the house but was afraid to say anything for fear of being branded racist. Her instincts were right, because the house has now been characterized as a bomb factory. There is only one group now whose behavior can ever be questioned, the dreaded Caucasians.

Noisy helicopters over the neighborhood stayed in business until midnight, keeping me awake. They started up again at 5:30 A.M. and are still going. Hopefully they are about done.

Law enforcement personnel conducted themselves in an exemplary way during this incident. It is too bad the minority of cops who reside on the spectrum at “sadistic” give the rest a bad rep.