A lot of times in my middle grade school years, the school I went to would receive bomb threats. You see, it was a Catholic school in a city where almost half of the residents believed in a different faith. It should have been no problem as the school was open for all children, irrespective of their religion. What matters most was educating the young minds to be better citizens of the world. But I digress...
Well, there had been memorable experiences because of that time. The Girl Scout march practices would only be confined in front of the cathedral within the school and most often, it gets cancelled due to the threats. That would lead us to eventually to just play marbles in the dirt in the parade grounds. These were moments of threat awareness but we still found ways to have fun as long as we do not leave the school grounds without our parents or guardians.
But one day, the threat must have been so grave because we were all confined to our classrooms during the middle of the day. We were not allowed to go out and the teachers were there to guard us. The school was in lockdown and I guess, the lines were so busy contacting all parents and guardians to inform them that we needed to be picked up from school. I remember, my dad left the office once he heard about the news to come pick up my sister and I. Until this moment, I will never forget looking out of our classroom window on the third floor and see our dad arriving. I know I was glad to see him but I do not remember feeling that scared. Maybe I was. Or maybe, I was just looking forward to going home early. I do not remember.
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I remember, one time, when there was a big fire in a Muslim community, we can see the dark smoke from our third floor (or was it second?) classroom. Then suddenly, one of my best friends just started crying. It was because they lived there and she was scared for her mom and brother who were at their house. We could not do anything for her but just stay beside her. Later, her mom arrived to pick her up.
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We watched National Geographic's The Cave last night. It makes me wonder, what would I do when I am placed in that position? I am even older than the doctor in the movie.
