3 minute read
EN GUARD
JANESSA JOY GARCIA
ple hated them. They felt hopeless facing the endless judging and bullying. As if they knew the full story!
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They cried, cried, and cried. They had never experienced something so tragic and draining. But what hurt the most was knowing who caused this.
At times like these, where was their mother? The one who was supposed to be their safe place? The one who was supposed to protect them from harm? The one who should have understood them? The one who was supposed to be their light? Where was she? She was gone. She lied.
Truthfully, Math isn’t really my strongest subject. I’ve struggled and cheated a number of times. I’ve even joked about my actions here and there. But that doesn’t mean I don’t work hard for my grades too…
And knowing that someone backstabbed me? Without knowing if it was actually true or not?
That hurt like hell. They judged me without knowing the full story. This person that I felt so close to. This person that I thought I could trust and respect with all my heart.
But what can I say? This world is dominated by the pretentious. In order to identify the trustworthy, we need to experience pain, heartbreak and betrayal first.
While talking to the people who experienced the tragedy first hand, one question stood out to me. I could feel the pain in their voices as they all asked…
“Why did you betray us, mother?”
Sharpened Jealousy
THEY say that school is our second home, and a home gives us that feeling of safety. But, how can we feel safe, when these kinds of incidents happen in schools?
Last January 27, Divine Grace School announced a metal detector implementation in the High School Department.
It was when a student from Culiat High School in Quezon City got stabbed by another student and was dead on arrival. Based on the initial investigation, the reason for the incident was because the culprit’s girlfriend gave money to the victim and the culprit felt jealousy towards the victim.
The mayor of Quezon city, Joy Belmonte said that she was “saddened and horrified” by the incident.
“I have ordered concerned offices of the city government to extend the necessary assistance to the victim’s family. We also assure the victim’s family that a thorough investigation will be conducted,” Belmonte said in a statement.
“The Schools Division Office is requested to review security protocols in schools and implement additional measures if warranted to avoid a repeat of such incident,” she added.
Because of this, the metal detector was added for security in DGS.
But this wasn’t really helping.
Those students that use school service don’t undergo metal detectors to check if they have sharp objects in their bag since school service always drops the students inside the school premises.
Moreover, when entering the school, the security personnel doesn’t even try to inspect every student just to make sure that no sharp objects can pass through, which means, they could easily sneak a dangerous weapon inside, without anyone knowing.
Another thing, the Metal Detector Implementation was only applied to the High School Department, based on the announcement released by the admins.
They should also apply it in the Pre-school, Lower, and Upper Grade School Departments, so the safety would be fair for everyone. The priority of the school shouldn’t only be the quality of the education they give to every student, but also, they should give protection for their well-being, too.
As a human, before doing something, you should think twice and be wise instead of letting your own feelings get over you.
At this point, it isn’t only the sharp objects that can hurt one another— but our emotions too.
And from what I’ve experienced and heard, a lot of things happen in the school.
There were times where a teasing became a fist fight, and some were sent to the hospital because of the brutality that happened.
There was a former student that hurt his classmates and teachers because of his anger issues.
I was almost his victim, and remembering that particular memory was the scariest thing that happened to me. He was about to hurt me, but thankfully, he was stopped by a teacher assigned at that time.
It makes me wonder, what about those teachers and students he already hurt? It must’ve been more than traumatizing compare to what I’ve experienced.
Controlling your emotions isn’t a bad thing to do. Be mindful of what you do so that you can hurt no one as sometimes, our feelings are the weapon that make us hurt someone, whether intentional or unintentional.
It is also in the intention of the person who holds the knife that determines your safety.
I really wish that no more children would worry for their safety when going to school. Someday, every school will improve their method in protecting everyone, so that no more mothers and fathers would shed tears for the death of their child.
Christine Althea Labandia