The scare involving a potential explosive device at Marion Middle School last week turned out well, but it's hard not to be unnerved by the thought of what could have happened.
More to the point, it's unsettling to realize again how vulnerable we all are in this crazy world of ours. The lingering thought after last week's incident is not so much that the device was not explosive but that it could have been explosive-and it did find its way into a school building.
When it comes right down to it, we can't protect ourselves or our loved ones entirely from people-whatever their age-who are determined to threaten or cause harm. From our perspective, the Marion-Florence administration handled the situation extremely well, and their determination to carefully evaluate their response and learn from it is about as much as any rational person could reasonably do for the future.
And so we move ahead-sobered by what we've experienced but also wiser. -DR
