I'm not quite sure which represents the greater harm to children, the potential of someone with a gun shooting them, or the terror of being constantly told that someone "might" shoot them? I am certainly no math whiz but I have a basic understanding of the laws of probability and my guess is that Bar Harbor children stand a greater chance of being injured or killed by a bolt of lightning than of being shot while sitting in class at Conners Emerson. That's not to say that it's totally impossible. Some nut case eager to capture the fame and notoriety of being a "schoolhouse shooter" might one day show up here but it's highly unlikely. What is far, far more likely is that young children constantly told that a shooter might show up at any minute will come to see the world as a very dangerous place. That sense of impending disaster can easily lead to an adversity to any & all potential risks that will wind up crippling a child for life. Sadly America is becoming a country where fear and a crippling desire for a "risk free" environment has become an insatiable driver of everything we do. A willingness to take risks is what enabled the founders of this country, this state, and this community to create what far too many folks these days take for granted. An unwillingness to take risks, an insistence upon a totally safe lifestyle, can easily destroy a community, a state, or a nation.
I'm not quite sure which represents the greater harm to children, the potential of someone with a gun shooting them, or the terror of being constantly told that someone "might" shoot them? I am certainly no math whiz but I have a basic understanding of the laws of probability and my guess is that Bar Harbor children stand a greater chance of being injured or killed by a bolt of lightning than of being shot while sitting in class at Conners Emerson. That's not to say that it's totally impossible. Some nut case eager to capture the fame and notoriety of being a "schoolhouse shooter" might one day show up here but it's highly unlikely. What is far, far more likely is that young children constantly told that a shooter might show up at any minute will come to see the world as a very dangerous place. That sense of impending disaster can easily lead to an adversity to any & all potential risks that will wind up crippling a child for life. Sadly America is becoming a country where fear and a crippling desire for a "risk free" environment has become an insatiable driver of everything we do. A willingness to take risks is what enabled the founders of this country, this state, and this community to create what far too many folks these days take for granted. An unwillingness to take risks, an insistence upon a totally safe lifestyle, can easily destroy a community, a state, or a nation.