The Update Desk: Random Thoughts

Earlier this week, I posted some Random Thoughts on how we convolute logic when it comes to who (or what) gets blamed when things go wrong. The solution I proposed was extreme, to say the least, but it seemed to make sense in context..

The driver of the random thoughts was the most recent school shooting, the one at Santa Fe High School in Texas, and the reactions from both sides on a 'solution' to the problem. I realized, as I wandered through my most recent Sunday School post, that generally when we have a choice between blaming people or blaming inanimate objects, our logic is based on how much we like or dislike the inanimate object.

You know, guns don't kill people, people do. Plastic bags don't pollute, people do. In those examples, we like the inanimate object, its usefulness, its convenience, its  je ne sais quoi  - and so we'll blame the people.

In other examples in the post, such as solar panels or 'smart' assistants  and 'smart' appliances, we are more apt to blame the objects than we are to blame the people who use them. I could have included Facebook as another inanimate object we're more than happy to blame, rather than blaming the people who don't understand how (or refuse) to take control of their own privacy settings. Where we are to blame, it seems, we blame the object.

Yesterday, another example reared its ugly head, one that confirms the logic: seat belts on school buses.

As you probably heard, there was a horrible, tragic accident in New Jersey last week involving a school bus and a dump truck; a ten-year-old child and a 51-year-old teacher were killed, and it's simply heartbreaking, as it is anytime anyone loses a child or any family member under such totally random circumstances.

This is not the first tragic school bus accident, and it will likely not be the last - we know that. As the investigation into the recent crash continues, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released some recommendations stemming from their investigation of two previous accidents.

The investigative panel issued the recommendations at a Washington hearing during which staff presented the findings of their probes of two school bus crashes that occurred in 2016, killing 12 and injuring 37. One was in Baltimore and the other in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The NTSB's recommendations certainly won't prevent accidents like the one that happened last week. And we're learning more about the bus driver, as noted below:

The bus driver, Hudy Muldrow, 77, of Paterson, has had his license suspended 14 times since he began driving in 1975, said Mairin Bellack, a (NJ Motor Vehicle) Commission spokeswoman. Muldrow has eight speeding tickets on his record, as well as one careless driving ticket and a summons for unsafe operation of a motor vehicle, from 2003 Bellack said. 

Six license suspensions were due to unpaid parking tickets, including Muldrow's most recent which lasted from December 20, 2017 to January 3, 2018. The state also once suspended his license for administrative reasons, Bellack said.

So, did the NTSB recommend that people who have sketchy driving records over a forty year period not be allowed to drive school buses? That 77-year-olds shouldn't be driving school buses? Nope - instead of addressing their recommendations to the person, they addressed the inanimate object.

• all new school buses in the US should be equipped with lap and shoulder belts
• automatic emergency braking systems should be mandated, to help prevent or mitigate frontal collisions if the driver doesn't apply the brakes.
• NY, FL, LA, and NY should upgrade their requirements to lap and shoulder belts from the current lap belt requirement.

Now, these are just recommendations, meaning that absent legislation at the local, state or federal level, school districts are going to have to decide whether to follow the recommendations when they put new bus proposals up for discussion. And, district voters or school boards will have to decide whether they're willing to pay the extra $10,000 per bus cost, or if they're willing to play the odds.

After all, from 2007 - 2016, only 58 school-age occupants of buses and other 'school transportation vehicles' were killed - so the odds are pretty good that it's not going to happen to anyone from their school, right?

Yeah. Just like another school shooting isn't going to happen.

TGIF? Not Tonight

I had ideas for tonight's TGIF post -- thoughts I had scribbled yesterday, last night, this morning. And then, of course, the news came of yet another mass shooting, more people murdered at a school, by  someone known to those who died, or at least known to the school community.

The shooter is alive, his supposed dreams of shooting up the school and then committing suicide, dashed. Whether it was a lack of courage, or strong convincing by law enforcement or pure luck, he's alive, and ten others are dead.

And we add another name to the list, we add the name Santa Fe High School to the list, just above or just below the name Marjory Stoneman Douglas, depending on how you track these horrific incidents - chronological order? Most recent to longest ago? Updating the list, again, already, less than 100 days after the last name was added. 

I'm not going to argue guns, or mental health, or how many doors a school should have, or whether a law enforcement officer doing his or her job is a hero, or whether a bully made him do it.

I'm not going to worry about whether he wore a trench coat when it was 90 degrees out, or whether he really thought he was Born to Kill like the t-shirt he posted on social media.

Do we want to understand why people do this? Sure, I guess. Maybe the insight will be helpful.

Do we want to know if anyone missed any red flags? Sure, I guess. Maybe it will make people feel better to blame someone for not stopping it, like they blamed everyone and their brother for not finding the shooter, for not reading the signs, for not entering the building, for for for whatever was or wasn't done in Parkland to prevent that one from happening.

Do we want to know how he got hold of the guns, his father's legally purchased guns?  Sure, I guess that would be helpful too, and maybe we'd learn something about... something (treading lightly here, about parents and kids and stuff).

Do we want to know what it feels like to be a student or teacher or school employee at Santa Fe, or to be the parent of one of the above? No, not really - not that I'm unfeeling or uncaring, but that the last thing I want for them is the media in their face, in their anguish, in their sorrow, in the grief, and yes, in their quiet joy if they are among the fortunate ones, loved ones still whole, still hugs to give and get, still I love yous to be spoken, to be heard.

We grieve for the terrible loss of life, and send our support and love to everyone affected by this horrible attack in Texas. To the students, families and personnel at Santa Fe High School - we are with you in this tragic hour, and we will be with you forever.

Four hours later the Griever in Chief had moved on to America being a nation of redemption and believing in second chances and that the best is yet to come (ironic for this town, this school, these families), and then to Making the United Nations Great Again (I kid you not), yet another insult to our friends, allies, the world - but then it was California's governor and 250 years of clean coal and energy dominance and we are officially -  just like that - very far removed from grieving or thoughts and prayers. The flags are at half staff already.  Did that, moving on.

Forever seems like such a short time, doesn't it?