Latest school shooting gives feeling of deja vu as we collectively search for answers

There is a feeling that one experiences when they have been in a situation or in a place where they feel like they have been in that situation or place before, even if they don’t remember anything specific about being there.

It’s called deja vu. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines deja vu as “the illusion of remembering scenes or events when experienced for the first time” or “a feeling that one has seen or heard something before.”

I had a feeling of deja vu when I visited the Newton Elementary School in Connecticut last summer. I walked around the campus on a summer day and noted that they had rebuilt the school since the massacre of children almost 10 years ago. I simply felt that even though I had never before visited this place I was familiar enough with the events of the shootings that I felt I had been there.

Now I come to Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and I have the opposite reaction. Is there a term that is the opposite of deja vu, which means ‘I am in a place or in a scenario which is quite familiar to me, yet, it still feels so unfamiliar?’

In French the term is Jamais vu, which literally means “never seen before.” In other words this French phrase refers to the experience of being unfamiliar with a person or a situation that is actually familiar.I have seen the aftermaths of school shootings before but in this case it feels like I have never seen these events happen in the past.

We have all watched or listened to the reports of the aftermath of so many school shootings in our nation. I said to myself, “Same drill. Same media explosion. Same tears and stories.” For an unknown reason while I saw this same trajectory in response to the events in Uvalde, it all simply felt so foreign this time, so shocking to my sense of place as an American. Does this stem from the enormity of the trauma? Could it be that Jamais vu makes me feel despair because I have seen these school shootings so many times yet the experience of watching them on the news feels unfamiliar because I still can’t get my head around such callous and cruel behavior from teenagers? Are there really no solutions to the violence that we as Americans can join together to work on?

I have spoken with teachers this week and former school administrators and basically I am getting some common feedback. I asked them what they thought was the root of the problems we are facing with school shootings? The problems we face, according to teachers, originate from all over the map. It is not only a legislative issue (although teachers believe teenagers have no business purchasing AR15 weapons). Why can’t government protect the lives of the children versus the interest of gun owners?

It is not only the gun issue but it is a failure of education in America. Most teachers see that schools function like machines. They impart the information. They teach children to become dependent on computer and cell phone screens. But where is the emphasis on teaching children that academic excellence means good citizenship? Where does the school system focus on ethics and teaching mutual respect? Why does it feel like the educational system could do a much better job in addressing a multidisciplinary approach with meeting social and emotional needs of children?

The teachers tell me that parents own their fair share of the problems. No matter what the schools teach, if there are parents who do not have the capacity or will to support the message then they, too, should be responsible for their children who demonstrate a degree of social alienation. They, too, own the problem and should own the consequences when their children get a hold of their parents’ guns. They own responsibility when children use social media that their parents ignore, which leads their children to anti-social and potentially violent behavior.

And then the final comment from all my conversations with today’s teaches is the scorn and resentment they feel at the ridiculous and self-serving notion that teachers should be trained and armed to kill in order to protect the lives of their students. That is not what they are hired to do and it is an absolute disgrace to the American ethos to listen to politicians and gun manufacturers and gun lobby organizations propose such ludicrous ideas.

Without question there needs to be a multidisciplinary group of stakeholders that can begin to discuss these issues. No one group of professionals has the solution. Only when we get together with educators, the faith community, parents, law enforcement, the business community, and students themselves and sit down can we begin to tackle some of these problems.

Years ago when I was a rabbi in Sacramento, California, I was invited to chair the human dignity commission of the San Juan School District. I worked directly with the superintendent of the district. We met with parents and students and heard cases and gave support to help diverse groups of students and parents find dignity and respect. The superintendent reminded many times that the first moral imperative for the commission I chaired was to work toward preserving a commitment to psychological safety for every student. If students do not feel safe then the schools have failed.

Well that was almost 20 years ago and needless to say that the issues have only worsened compared with what we dealt with back then. That is why I say in light of what I am witnessing today in America’s schools that it feels like Jamais vu, in other words, I have been here before but it feels unfamiliar to me over and over.

Rabbi Brad L. Bloom serves Congregation Beth Yam. He attended the University of Wisconsin and lives on Hilton Head Island.