I ask again, what is the purpose of school resource officers other than to instill discomfort in the student body? Other than to brutalize and single out select “problem” students at random, often marginalized ones? There was not one single time during my academic career when I was glad there was a school resource officer in the school. It was a teacher who disarmed a student at my school. Every time there was a violent brawl, it was a teacher who inserted themselves in the middle to stop it. It is teachers who put themselves in front of gunmen to protect their students while the coward cop sticks his thumb in his ass in the parking lot.
“I got my life back.” Now you can spend the last 10-20 years sitting on your ass, receiving a pension. Those 14 children you failed to protect will never know the privilege of getting old. They’ll never get their lives back.
They’re a law enforcement officer assigned to a school, sometimes employed by the local sheriff’s department and sometimes on the payroll of the school board. They’re common in American public schools, especially larger ones. They’re supposed to “prevent crime” and “mentor students” and help guide the staff and students during emergencies. They act as a law enforcement officer and also try to be friends with the student body. This guy failed everyone of his duties.
They’re known for brutalizing and terrifying students. They often arrest kids for non-violent offenses. Cases of them brutalizing children are not particularly rare. In middle school I watched a school resource officer slam a small 12 year old trans boy against a wall and handcuff him because the child was attempting to escape the school, where he was facing extreme bullying and struggling in his classes.
Lord of the Rings somehow perfectly unites the bone-deep nausea and unglamorous weariness that comes from facing a threat you rationally know you can’t win against with the peace, the warmth, even the thrill that is an inherent effect of choosing to fight for what is right, of not compromising, of standing with the people you love against the forces that threaten them and you and all goodness. And Tolkien never overplays that glow that comes from choosing goodness as a silly or sentimental high, as something that lasts long or that outweighs the grim endurance necessary to deal with fighting a losing battle. in fact, MOST of the time the heroes primarily have to deal with that uglier feeling as their constant companion with that better, more positive feeling barely even appearing—but that better feeling is still somehow the emotional and psychological bedrock of what keeps each of the heroes whole and what separates them from their despairing counterparts. just the fact that choosing to persevere, to have faith in the darkness, to hope when all seems hopeless, to make the act of goodness one more time is what keeps you sane, keeps you upright, keeps you moving forward, holds you back from hurtling into the abyss of madness and chaos and sin and despair even if you feel like you’re dancing on the edge …. that kills me.
