insanityOn Saturday I received a call at my home from the college vice president for educational services—a conference call, my first ever. The college vice president for educational services, the college vice president for customer satisfaction, the chairperson of the division of communications and the humanities, and the college attorney identified themselves and each in turn informed me of recent developments. Wyatt still had not been located. Reports had been filed. Agencies had been queried and informed. Options had been considered and were periodically reviewed. Designated personnel had been tasked. A security guard had been posted at the front door of the building. Wyatt's photograph had been circulated. Everyone at the college was wary. People were on the lookout. My callers asked how I was doing. I said that I was okay, everything considered, and doing fine, and I thanked them for their efforts and concern. Their call impressed upon me even more the seriousness of the situation. How impotent we all seemed to be, how helpless. I remember how blank and disembodied their four voices sounded over the phone.
"Our primary concern is your personal safety!" the college vice president of educational services assured me. His administrative colleagues seconded his remark.
"Definitely!"
"Yes!"
"Absolutely!"
We vowed to carry on.
For the rest of the day Saturday and all day Sunday I was left entirely to my own thoughts and devices. This drama had begun on Thursday morning with a flash of fear that I might be assaulted, next the concern that my colleagues and friends in cubicles near mine might also be at risk, then, as the focus of Wyatt's anger widened, that everyone in the office or even everyone in the whole building might be in danger, and, finally, as I drove home after work on Thursday, that my wife and children too might be in harm's way. As others have discovered about themselves in similar crises, my own life and safety seemed now the least of my worries. At eight o'clock on Monday morning I would meet twenty-five new students to begin the new quarter. It was a section of the very same course Wyatt had been enrolled in. My class would meet in the very same room at the very same time. Over the weekend, as with each passing hour Monday morning approached, I became increasingly conscious of the jeopardy my new students might be in. Though we had not even yet met, I was in some measure now responsible for them. Perhaps our first class meeting, even a second or third if necessary, should be postponed until Wyatt had been found and his intention ascertained. Or maybe a substitute teacher should be assigned to the class. Though the target of Wyatt's wrath had multiplied as he raged, still I seemed his primary antagonist. Though my absence from the campus could not eliminate the risk to me and to others, certainly it would reduce it. But my pride kicked in. Let myself be run out of town by that lunatic? I thought not. Whose responsibility was it to weigh the pros and cons of all possible responses to the promises, boasts, and threats of a mad madman and to determine which course of action best served the public interest? Mine? Who was in charge here? Surely not I! Why didn't somebody do something?
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INSANITY to be continued
"Our primary concern is your personal safety!" the college vice president of educational services assured me. His administrative colleagues seconded his remark.
"Definitely!"
"Yes!"
"Absolutely!"
We vowed to carry on.
For the rest of the day Saturday and all day Sunday I was left entirely to my own thoughts and devices. This drama had begun on Thursday morning with a flash of fear that I might be assaulted, next the concern that my colleagues and friends in cubicles near mine might also be at risk, then, as the focus of Wyatt's anger widened, that everyone in the office or even everyone in the whole building might be in danger, and, finally, as I drove home after work on Thursday, that my wife and children too might be in harm's way. As others have discovered about themselves in similar crises, my own life and safety seemed now the least of my worries. At eight o'clock on Monday morning I would meet twenty-five new students to begin the new quarter. It was a section of the very same course Wyatt had been enrolled in. My class would meet in the very same room at the very same time. Over the weekend, as with each passing hour Monday morning approached, I became increasingly conscious of the jeopardy my new students might be in. Though we had not even yet met, I was in some measure now responsible for them. Perhaps our first class meeting, even a second or third if necessary, should be postponed until Wyatt had been found and his intention ascertained. Or maybe a substitute teacher should be assigned to the class. Though the target of Wyatt's wrath had multiplied as he raged, still I seemed his primary antagonist. Though my absence from the campus could not eliminate the risk to me and to others, certainly it would reduce it. But my pride kicked in. Let myself be run out of town by that lunatic? I thought not. Whose responsibility was it to weigh the pros and cons of all possible responses to the promises, boasts, and threats of a mad madman and to determine which course of action best served the public interest? Mine? Who was in charge here? Surely not I! Why didn't somebody do something?
............................................
INSANITY to be continued
