AI 'interview' with school shooting victim raises question every parent must ask



Jim Acosta’s AI-generated interview with a victim of the 2018 Parkland school shooting, Joaquin Oliver, has stirred the internet. Created from a video made by Oliver’s parents for what would have been his 25th birthday, it’s a reminder of the enduring pain felt by the community, survivors, and victims’ families of atrocities like Parkland.

The ethics behind Acosta’s “interview” may be questionable, but as a father of four preparing for back-to-school, it also raises the question: Are schools ready to protect students if — God forbid — a mass shooter attacks?

If a safety plan can’t withstand basic questions, it likely can’t withstand a real threat.

Every parent knows the mix of excitement and unease that accompanies handing a child over to someone else’s care for the better part of the day. That’s no small act. When we entrust schools with our children, we’re not just dropping them off to learn; we’re trusting that they’ll be protected. As parents, we would die to protect our kids, but do we — and can we — expect the same from their schools?

It’s not enough for schools to say safety is a top priority. Parents must demand to see plans, and schools must actively prepare.

Safety isn’t a job title. It’s a culture. And when it comes to protecting children, it has to be owned by everyone: parents, teachers, school staff, and law enforcement. Every adult in the room. The answer to the question, “Whose job is it to protect these kids?” should be unanimous: Mine.

A true safety culture isn’t vague policies or half-hearted drills, but a shared, lived-out commitment to readiness. Schools often say they have “protocols in place,” but when asked for details, the answer is fuzzy or hidden “for security reasons.” Sometimes that’s necessary, but that reply can mask a lack of preparation.

If a safety plan can’t withstand basic questions, it likely can’t withstand a real threat.

We don’t need policies on paper; we need practiced procedures and real barriers. Teachers can’t hope someone else will act. They must know what they will do if the worst happens. That’s why I founded Able Shepherd, to help everyday people train for real-world crises and build the skills needed to respond under pressure.

Our security assessments and team training courses prepare schools for likely emergencies, emphasizing stress inoculation, team movement, and emergency response, building muscle memory before danger strikes.

RELATED: Christian school arms staff to protect students from active shooter threats

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Training only matters if it can be replicated in real life. People freeze or make fatal mistakes when not trained well. They were briefed, but not in a way that built muscle memory. When tragedy strikes, it’s not the briefed but the trained who save lives.

Schools aren’t alone. Law enforcement has a duty, too. Officers are asked to do a hundred different things, but active threat response is not just another task. It requires a higher level of excellence.

Officers must be fully trained to act decisively, eliminate threats, and safeguard innocent lives, especially children. If they can’t meet that standard, they shouldn’t be the ones stepping through the schoolhouse door during a crisis.

What’s needed is a clear, realistic plan covering every phase of response, from defense to evacuation to medical aid and beyond.

But most of all, what’s needed is a mindset shift.

A protector isn’t just someone with a weapon; it’s someone with clarity, strength, and purpose.

Parents, we can’t just hope someone else is preparing. We must ask hard questions of our school administrators. Visit your children’s schools. Can someone break in within 10 seconds? If so, what’s being done?

Teachers and staff, this isn’t just about reading from a binder. It’s about standing in the gap. If someone came for your students, would you know what to do? Would you do it?

Police officers, we need you to be trained and ready. If you’re willing to go in — trained, capable, and courageous — God bless you. You deserve more than praise. But if you’re hiding behind a badge or a reputation you haven’t earned and will wilt when the moment of truth arrives, step aside. Too much is at stake.

When violence erupts, all other priorities vanish. Physical protection becomes paramount. Readiness means being equipped to act to defend those in our care. When lives are on the line, readiness isn’t optional; it’s our responsibility.

Still, safety isn’t just physical. It's mental, emotional, and spiritual. A protector isn’t just someone with a weapon; it’s someone with clarity, strength, and purpose. We cannot afford to be passive or distracted when it comes to protecting what matters most — our kids.

So let’s make this school year different. Not just with new pencils and planners, but with real preparation. Let’s stop outsourcing responsibility and start owning it. Because when we send our kids off each morning, we should be able to do so with confidence, not because nothing bad will ever happen, but because the adults around them are ready if it does.

You used to care about your clothes



Every August of my childhood, the same thing happened. The first two weeks were still summer: the pool and the beach, baseball and camping.

But then, sometime around August 15, my parents would start talking about school shopping.

Moms are the ones who make you put on the jeans, walk out of the dressing room, and stand there on display while they get down on their knees and yank on the waist to see how much room you have.

It was an ominous sign that summer was nearly over, a reminder that school was looming. Dreaded school. Hated school. After deliberation with each other, my mom and dad would settle on some day in the coming weeks. We would wake up and my parents would remind us to have a good breakfast because “we aren’t eating at the food court.” We would all pack in the car sometime after breakfast and make our yearly trip to the mall for school shopping.

Nice pants

Back-to-school shopping was an all-day affair. We would get there around 11a.m. We had to get jeans, a couple of boring pairs of nice pants, shirts, shoes, and winter jackets if we had grown out of them.

Sometimes my brother and I would split off and go with my dad to look for clothes — the easy stuff: socks, underwear, undershirts. My dad wasn’t a clothes hound. He never spent five minutes inspecting the rise on our jeans, checking to see if they really fit well or if they were the right length.

Moms are the ones who make you put on the jeans, walk out of the dressing room, and stand there on display while they get down on their knees and yank on the waist to see how much room you have. Tugging on the fabric and hiking up the jeans, embarrassing you in front of any random people who might walk by. You’ll never see them again, but you were always so embarrassed. “Mom!”

Mall malaise

Dads, generally, just want to get out of there. Or that’s how my dad was. He dreaded going to the mall for school shopping. I would say that walking around the mall, waiting for my mom and sister to finish whatever they were doing, was one of the things my dad detested most. But for us kids, it was a great day. School shopping at the mall was probably the only thing that made going to back to school somewhat bearable.

School stinks. Who wants to go back to sitting at a desk after running around outside all summer? No kid in their right mind wants to be cooped up in some classroom while the sun is still high. Resting your head against the smooth painted concrete wall, looking forlorn, gazing out at the bright green grass calling you through the sealed window. Let me out!

Carnival of shoes

But getting new clothes was fun. It made going back to school worth it, kind of. It felt like you had a chance to be a new person this year. I imagined how different my life would be if I had cool new skate shirts from World Industries, real JNCO jeans (I always had off-brand knock-offs — the leg opening wasn’t ever that wide), and a pair of skate shoes that were way more expensive than what I got last year.

Shoe Carnival was a highlight. Walking back and forth down the aisles, dreaming about which pair of shoes I would end up with. The really pricey ones were never an option. Eventually I learned I shouldn’t even try. I would finally select a few options. My mom would come over. I would put a pair on and she would have me walk down the aisle and then back again. She would study the way I walked like an Olympic judge.

She did this all while the Shoe Carnival employee was there watching, of course. Then she would take her thumb and press down at the tip of the toe to make sure I had enough room to grow over the course of the next year. She would press down hard three or four times, manhandling the shoe in focused judgement.

It was so embarrassing. But why, exactly? In what world does a 12-year-old get to pick out his own shoes without his parents taking a second look? No world. But when you are 12, you want that to be your world.

Natural fit

Kids are excited to get new clothes for school because they are new things and kids like to get new things. But kids also like their clothes. They might not talk openly about the clothes they like; they would rather talk about the clothes they don’t like. They don’t necessarily have the language at their disposal. Nevertheless, they have opinions about their clothes and they like when they get new clothes.

True, they don’t like them like we do. They don’t care about nice quality or anything particularly advanced. They just want a cool-looking shirt. But they do care in their own way.

It’s a natural thing to care about your clothes. Kids, for better and worse, exemplify us humans in a pure and natural state. But slowly over time we grow up, and many start to resent their clothes. Lots of guys end up viewing clothes as a burden rather than a blessing. They don’t really like thinking about them, and they don’t get too excited about them either. If they do get excited about them, they certainly won’t show it.

In short, guys have issues with their clothes. They need clothes therapy. The natural state of man is not one of resentment toward his clothing but one of enjoyment and interest. Kids show us that.

It’s funny to reminisce about those days at the mall before the first day of school, but there is a deeper lesson in these memories as well. We naturally care about how we look. We want to cultivate a personal aesthetic. Deep down, we want to enjoy our clothing.

For the guys who have built up wall after wall to protect themselves from caring about their clothing, it’s okay to let go. It’s okay to remember how you were once so excited for the jeans your mom bought you before school. Or how you looked forward to wearing those cool new shoes that first day. How you were secretly excited to show them off. It’s not embarrassing. It’s natural.

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Study reveals a common skill today’s kids are missing, and it’s NOT what you’d expect



When it comes to deficits in today’s youth, you might think of waning social skills, shortened attention spans, perhaps an inability to think critically – all as a result of overuse and addiction to technology.

And you’d be right. All of the aforementioned skills are certainly decreasing in an alarming portion of younger generations largely because of their overdependence on technology. However, there’s another skill that’s apparently on the decline, and it’s quite odd.

“Modern kids are lacking some fundamental skills needed to safely play tag,” Glenn Beck reads from the Athletics Fitness website.

What about the age-old game of “you’re it!” is so problematic for today’s kids?

According to the website, “children are starting to hit with such force that they often end up whacking their opponent across the back with a monstrous slap,” showing that they “lack the innate ability to judge how much pressure to apply during games that require human contact.”

Turns out the problem is related to muscle memory – the idea that repetition develops one’s ability to reproduce specific movements without conscious thought. Unfortunately, most of today’s kids don’t play enough to develop muscle memory, so on the off chance they find themselves in a game of tag, they don’t understand what’s an appropriate amount of force to use.

A variety of factors are playing into this lack of playtime, including “video games, aversion to manual labor, [and] unavailability of a parent for wrestling.”

“Our kids are becoming absolute ‘WALL-E’ creatures,” says Glenn, referencing the 2008 Pixar film that depicted a world where humans are virtually immobilized due to overdependence on technology.

However, it’s not just technology and absent parents that are limiting child development; it’s also the fact that the little playtime kids do engage in is too structured. Organized sports, activities, and games where the rules are already predetermined don’t allow for much creativity, innovation, or independent thinking, all of which are critical for child brain development.

“My parents would always say, ‘Go outside and play, go find some friends and play,”’ Glenn recollects.

But that was during a time when play could happen on a whim, games were made up on the fly, and neighborhood streets and parks were a land of possibilities.

While our world has certainly shifted, children’s need for unstructured play has not, which is why it’s so critical to reinstate playtime as a cornerstone of childhood.


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