Please Help! Protect Our Children

I watched a Special Investigation segment on ABC News Nightline last night.  Just in case you don't believe what I'm about to post, here is the link for you to watch for yourselves.

Deadly Discipline? Students Hurt, Dying After Being Restrained

There are actually school systems (administrators and teachers) that not only approve of, but are actually encouraging torturing our children.  Physical and psychological abuse.  And then saying it's to "protect them from hurting themselves or others."

Worst of all?  These procedures are being practiced on Special Needs Kids such as those with Autism.

Such tactics are to include:

1.  Electric Shock Therapy
2.  Being physically restrained
3.  Being locked in "Seclusion Rooms"

Let's take the first.  Imagine 60 volts of electricity coursing through YOUR body!  And they are doing this to our children!  The young teenager in this video is held down as he SCREAMS and struggles to get away from the electric current.  I cried.  I just can't think of anything to say to this.  They are electrocuting him.

The Second:  Being Physically Restrained.  Tell me how you would react if you discovered your child or teenager lying on the floor with between 1 and 6 grown men lying on TOP of him.  Supposedly these men acted according to procedure.  The young man DIED.  Tell me how that is "Acceptable Procedure."

Third:  Seclusion Rooms.  These are small "pods" that are windowless, dark, and have padded walls so the child will not hurt himself.  I don't know about you, but I wouldn't like being locked in a pitch black room for HOURS.  Not minutes, HOURS.  Completely alone in the dark.  The "room" wasn't even that big.  It gives me nightmares to think about.

I don't see how ANY of these would help.  It all seems to me like it would make a bad situation ten times worse.  These children are already angry, and this will make them angrier, terrified, and LESS likely to cooperate.

This is Inhuman.

This is Cruel.

This is Torture.

If I did any of the above to my children, I would be arrested, tried, and convicted of child abuse and child endangerment.  And Rightfully So!  So why is it perfectly LEGAL for a teacher or school administrator to engage in this!  Not only is it LEGAL, school systems are ENCOURAGING THIS!!!

 This is an abomination.

Fortunately, there is legislation in Congress to prohibit most of this.  Please contact your Congressman to help support this legislation.  S.2860 - Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act
We need this passed to protect our children.  ALL of our children. PLEASE Help me STOP this.  I can't do it alone.  I need anyone and everyone to help raise our voices so that we can be heard.

If WE don't protect our children, Nobody will.

For a Child's Sake, Please Help.

The Event

It's been 10 years since The Event.  It's been 10 years since 9/11.  Ten years.  We say it affected us all.  We say it left scars on the soul of humanity. We say it destroyed innocence.  It did.  It changed everything.  And nothing.

I don't have to explain "It changed everything."  But I do feel like I should explain "And nothing" just in case you think me unfeeling and cold.  After everything calmed down, life got back to normal.  We all at three meals a day.  We go to sleep at night.  We clean our houses.  We bathe our children.  We buy cars, change jobs, make new friends.  It changed nothing.  

But it did change everything.  None of us take for granted some things anymore.  We don't think that we are invincible anymore.  We know now that we CAN be hurt.  We know now that some WILL attack us.  We realize that we ARE just as vulnerable as everyone else.  It changed everything.

The Event.  At least of my generation.  For my parents' generation it was Kennedy's assassination.  For my grandparents', it was World War II.  Every generation has an Event.  Think about that for a minute.  Every generation has an Event.  Every Generation.  Now think about the future.  What will be The Event for our kids?  Our Grandkids?  Does that scare the hell out of you like it does me?

M is 4.  Z is 7.  H is 12.  How do I protect their innocence?  I can't.  How do I prevent their scars.  I can't.  How do I stand by and let them be hurt?  I can't stop it.  How do I prepare myself to watch them be hurt?  I can't.

All I CAN do is try to teach them right from wrong; good from evil.  All I can do is teach them sympathy and empathy; how to help others; how to support others.  All I can do is teach them how to handle adversity, to stay calm in the face of chaos, how to be strong.  It's not enough.  I want to do more.

I want to PREVENT their Event.  But I can't.  I can try to show them how I handled mine.  And I can try to show them how to handle theirs better than I did.

I pray God protects us all, but even more, I pray God protects our children.  Especially when we can't.

Tell me what you think.  Tell me what you think about our Event.  About our childrens' Event.  Tell me whatever you want.  Please