Arming teachers is not the answer

WHAT kind of society has America become to suggest teachers carry a gun?

For no matter how well trained they would be, I could not imagine what would be going through their minds before shooting one of their own pupils. I’m sure it would be traumatic as to weigh heavily on their conscience always.

My sister, after living just outside Denver, Colorado, for 20-odd years, is now an American citizen.

Now her family are all grown up, my niece now has four YOU may feel you could never write a symphony As good as one by Beethoven, Mozart or Brahms, Or paint as well as Leonardo da Vinci, Or fashion a sculpture like that one with no arms, We could never compete with Shakespeare, you and me. But might the gap be not as immense as it seems? By the time a play is ready for us to see Its deleted scenes may amount to reams and reams, It may look like it’s been written effortlessly, But much work and time have been spent behind the scenes. Many artists, tune smiths and writers keep a ton Of notes, sketches and diary entries, mostly crude, A world famous work of art may well have begun As a half-registered passing idea or mood, Sometimes a little thought turns out to be the one. The key seems to lie in the courage to revise, Most of us feel we mustn’t meddle with what’s what, When you get over this it comes as a surprise To find your small thought become a prize-winning plot: There’s a great artist lurking just behind your eyes. ANDREW TAIT Jesmond