School Stories

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Mary had a little lamb
Poetic reflections of Mary Alward
on prayer in schools

Email from God

To: Littleton
From: God
Date: April 21, 1999

Dear Parents, Friends, and Loved Ones,
Of these precious youth you've lost,
I see your broken spirits,
I know the terrible cost.

Although I'm not allowed,
in schools across our land,
they can't keep me from loving kids,
and offering them my hand.

Though evil reigned at Columbine,
and horror filled the air,
I wanted all of you to know
I left heaven and came there.

I summoned Heaven's Angels,
long before the call came in,
to share the dreadful warning
of what would soon begin.

The angels' wings were folded,
they knew what was to come.
When I said, "I'll lead this mission,"
they followed one by one.

I will go and get these babies,
and bring them home with me,
where they'll live in heaven's schoolhouse,
which is safe and terror-free.

Yes, I've prepared a special schoolhouse.
It stands out from all the rest.
The welcome mat reads, "Columbine."
It's reserved for heaven's best.

I was hovering all around them,
in the library and the hall.
When the evil forces entered,
your children heard me call.

I wrapped my arms around them.,
Pulled them close unto my breast.
"I've come to take you with me.
We must go and leave the rest."

"Your friends will long remember
all the cool times that we shared,
and the angels will remind them
how very much you cared."

Yes, I took those precious children
in the twinkling of an eye.
We were on our way to heaven
to their schoolhouse in the sky.

I know your hearts are broken.
I know the pain you bear.
My heart is also broken
by the evil everywhere.

Please help me fight this battle
to keep our children safe
Through prayers and love and sharing
and holding to the faith

that peace will surely reign one day
in schools throughout the lands
for all our future hopes and dreams
rest in our students' hands.

I'll give you peace to fill your heart,
send sun to break the night,
provide the strength to move beyond
the wrongs and do what's right.

You ask how I can know your pain
from the loss of your dear one,
It's because it seems like yesterday
when I, too, gave up a son.

I love you,
God

P.S. Tell all the kids about my son.
They don't all know Him yet.

Related Articles

Let's Take Back Our Schools

by Traute Klein, biogardener

School shootings in the US and Canada have evoked different solutions from the community. A Canadian town champions a positive solution of forgiveness, prayer, and faith.

What is happening to our children in 1999? Bombs in our schools. Shootings in Columbine High School in Littleton, CO. Copycat shootings in W. R. Myers High School in Tabor, AB. Children are traumatized. Parents are terrified.

W. R. Myers High School, Tabor, Alberta

The small farming community in southern Alberta, Tabor, is not giving in to fear, but taking back the school through the initiative of the father whose son died in the shooting.

As I am writing this, I am for the third time today listening to the televised memorial service for Jason Lang, the student who was fatally shot in that school just a few days ago. His father, Dale Lang, an Anglican priest, conducted the service in the school auditorium, but the entire Tabor population spilled over into classrooms and into the streets of the town. He talked about taking back the school, about casting out evil, about casting out fear, about replacing it with love. He also reached out in understanding and prayer to the forteen-year-old boy who had killed his son and had seriously wounded another student. He encouraged the students in attendance to take back their school. He suggested, "You know how you create a safe environment? When everbody loves everybody."

The sermon was followed by huggings all around.

As part of the sermon, he walked to the very spot in the hall where Jason had been shot and prayed over the area as well as every other area of the school. He prayed that "evil be cast out" so that "in this place, kids would walk with joy in their hearts. He asked God "to fill this place with your holy presence" so that people in it would "experience an incredible peace."

Dale Lang's 30-minute sermon has been televised in its entirety on CBC which is our national Canadian broadcaster. The whole country listened.

The day after the memorial service, the school went back to regular classes.

Columbine Highschool, Littleton, Colorado

The school is closed, at least for the rest of the school year. Healing has to take place outside the school building.

In the left column, you will see a poem which an American reader sent me. I entitled in "Email from God." It attempts to heal the wounds of the senseless occurrence in Littleton. If anyone knows who the author is, please let me know so I can give credit.

Manitoba Highschools

No shootings in Manitoba schools so far, but something frightening is happening. I am reporting this to the best of my knowledge. I will change the information if I hear of updates.

After the occurrences in Littleton and Tabor, several Winnipeg highschool students, independent of each other, talked to their guidance councillors about the feelings they have wanting to kill others. In each case, the parents were consulted and were assured that the matter would be handled internally. Parents were confident that the students would receive help to deal with what they perceived to be a serious problem.

Three days later, the police arrived at the homes of these students to arrest them. No Winnipeg student will ever want to discuss a problem with a councillor again.

Another Poem

This poem was written by Bruce Hering of Booneville, CA, and published as a letter to the editor in the "Anderson Valley Advertise" by his godfather, Bruce Anderson.

Role Models

There's no doubt about it, the kids are quite smart.
They learn from their elders right from the start.

It's not so much the words we say.
It's more our actions every day.

Killing in the National Interest is okay.
We're sorry if some of our bombs go astray.

We dressed in uniforms and killed our fellow humans.
They dressed in uniforms and killed their fellow students.

We got the bombs from taxes and profitable corporations.
They got the guns from dealers and from back room operations.

We disregarded the laws of the United Nations.
They disregarded the law of the United States.

There is no doubt about it, the kids have learned well.
They've learned everything they've heard us tell.

The only difference I see at this time
is how each of us has viewed our own crime.

We say we are humanitarian and continue our strife.
They saw their acts as murder and ended their lives.

The lesson to learn from these events far and near
is that they learn what they see and not what they hear.