2 minute read
Kaitlyn McCoy
To My Future Students
CW: Gun Violence
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Kaitlyn McCoy
To my Future Students:
I wanted to be a teacher to help people.
Generally, when people are driven by this need to help people, they become doctors, but I’ve always been squeamish about blood and injuries. So I believed that educating the youth and giving you the tools to succeed would be the next best thing. I wanted to help educate you, show you all the paths to future happiness and success, to give you the space to be yourselves, unapologetically, and give you the tools to affect positive change in your futures.
All this to say that I am aware of the irony as I look up tips for when I’m your teacher. I’ve generated quite the list of helpful tricks to use: tampons can be used to stop bleeding from bullet wounds. Children placed near the entrance of a classroom can distract the person coming in as their classmates run away. Running in a zig zag helps you get away from crocodiles, but they can help you evade bullets, too. This list goes on, but I wouldn’t want to bore you with the details. You’ve already learned all this before, anyway.
No, the point of this letter is to apologize. I want to apologize if I hesitate. I want to apologize if I forget for a minute, staring down the barrel of a gun, that your lives are more important than mine. I want to apologize if I panic when I realize that this time it isn’t a drill. I want to apologize for breaking my composure because, as the adult, all of you will be looking to me for guidance, reassurance, and support. I want to apologize for not making it safer for you. I want to apologize for the eventual
understanding that your death, your classmates death, and my death will garner only thoughts and prayers, but no discernable differences to protect your younger siblings and all the rest who come after you.
But, with that out of the way, I’m excited to get to know you. I’m grateful for every moment I get to spend with you, even if that time is cut short. In the meantime, I’ll keep learning tips and tricks that I may or may not manage to remember when I need to the most.
Best, Kaitlyn McCoy
