A slow, seemingly harmless rumble turned into a violent shaking a few seconds later. After running the possible scenarios through my head about what could be happening, disbelief became reality as I - and all the other teachers in the school - went into the hallway and began ordering children around.
"Get on your knees, face the wall and put your heads down! Put your hands behind your neck!"
There are days where even long-time teachers will experience things for the very first time. Today was one of them: here, far away from California or any other known earthquake mecca, we had an earthquake. Not a huge, destructive earthquake like the one in Japan last year, but still big enough to make fear a reality. Several children were crying near where I posted myself, and I looked at all the teachers. Although I knew we were all either a little worried or thought it was kinda fun, all of us kept a cool and serious demeanor as we evacuated the building.
In the safety of the adjoining softball field, one of my students came up to me and asked,
"Mr. Lin, were you scared?"
I paused for a moment before I answered him. Fear is not a bad thing; there is a reason why it is an instinctive reaction that helps define us as humans.
"Did I look scared?"
"No, but I was still wondering," he answered.
"Yes I was," I said calmly. "I was scared for the safety of my students."
Tomorrow, I will have the class write in their daily journals about how they felt during the earthquake. After that, maybe we can have a discussion that will (hopefully) dispel the notion that men should never be afraid. Boys should not grow up thinking that fear makes them less of a man.
No comments:
Post a Comment