Courage to Lay Down One's Life

By Kerry Campbell

God's Brave Women - Kerry's Story

A classroom teacher pulled me aside as I got ready to start my preschool music classes for the day. There was going to be an active shooter drill at some point that afternoon, and she wanted me to be ready. The teacher and I exchanged a long look. We had done this once before, and I remembered how much it took out of her, how surreal it was to watch her bar her door and gather the class of three and four-year olds, many with special needs, into a corner and play a series of finger games to help them remain quiet. Today’s drill would be different. From an announcement over the loudspeaker about the supposed location of the shooter, each preschool teacher would need to quickly decide whether to stay and hide or whether they should run outside through the nearest exit. This particular preschool program is housed in a large middle school, and the six classrooms are pretty spread out, so it was likely that some classes would run, and some would hide. They wouldn’t know what to do until the announcement, and the lead teachers had just a second to decide their course.

"From an announcement over the loudspeaker about the supposed location of the shooter, each preschool teacher would need to quickly decide whether to stay and hide or whether they should run outside through the nearest exit... Can you imagine the weight of that decision? The startling, sad, and scary thought that this could one day be their reality? Staying or running as a matter of life and death?"

Can you imagine the weight of that decision? The startling, sad, and scary thought that this could one day be their reality? Staying or running as a matter of life and death? You would imagine that the teachers would wear it heavy on their shoulders, their terror and emotion plain on their faces, but that’s not what happened.

As I moved through the classes that day, I saw teachers prepping children who, because of their age, had no real idea what they were being prepped for. They played a series of games, repeated some call and response, practiced some classroom rules. They talked about the value of running fast, of listening to a teacher’s voice, of turning off talking voices, of following directions. As I settled into one class to start my lesson, I heard a little boy whisper to himself, “run fast, run fast, run fast”. And though the thought that this precious boy might have to do just that to save his life one day was at the forefront of my mind and emotions, I followed the lead of the teachers around me, took a breath, smiled, and started singing.

As the day went on, the teachers had a better idea of the general timing of the drill, and we were fairly certain it would happen in the midst of my time with Miss Lisa and her