American student's explanation for keeping goodbye letters saved in their email drafts is heartbreaking

All forms of back to school prep, like stocking up on school supplies and doing a mental and physical health check for children, are mostly done to make the school year a little bit easier and seamless for the kids. But with the rising number of school shootings in the U.S., some kids are engaging in a different, truly heartbreaking kind of back-to-school preparation. One child shared on the PostSecret Facebook page that they prepare email drafts to send to their loved ones before school reopens, so they can quickly send their final goodbyes in case of a shooting.

The child wrote, "I spent the night writing goodbye letters to everyone I love. I was about to copy paste them into email drafts when it hit me in two ways. One- How sick it is that this is a part of my back-to-school prep." The other point was, "Other students might find comfort in doing the same thing, so I want to spread the idea. I am much less terrified now. When the shooting starts, it'll take me just a few seconds to pull out my phone and say my goodbyes." The post also featured a screenshot of multiple email drafts along with the note. The drafts began as such: "There's an active shooter on my campus. This is everything I want you to know in case I don't make it."

As the subject is relevant to many people on the internet, the post garnered a lot of attention. It received more than 12k reactions, 2.6k shares and over 1.6k comments. People took to the comments section of the post to express how sad it was that kids in school had to worry about such things. Others highlighted the heartbreaking reality behind school shootings in the US and the child's back-to-school prep. 

Catherine Kay commented, "My heart breaks for the students and teachers in the US. I teach in Australia and am so glad that the laws and culture changed after Port Arthur. I have seen a lot of violence and lockdowns in schools. But the ability to inflict damage is very small when even the kitchen knives are locked up (even scissors sometimes, in high-risk scenarios). Golf clubs, sticks, knives, rocks, pencils, hand tools, feet and hands all require closeness, effort, time and strong resistance to our de-escalation and safe hold training. The worst cases I've seen have required hospitalization and/or police involvement, not large volumes of death."

Bev Free-Hunkus wrote, "This is why I get upset when people want to take cell phones away from kids at school. So many times, it's the last time a parent gets a text from their child. I'm scared, Mom. I love you." Cassidy Hewitt remarked, "What a very real fear that only Americans have to grapple with. This is horrific and honestly one of the most depressing secrets I’ve read on this page, we need to enact change, this should not be our reality." Arion Gadd expressed, "This is so sad. The UK had a school shooting and we actually did something about it, we didn't just send thoughts and prayers, we banned them and guys, how many we've had since then? I feel so sorry for this person; I can't imagine the trauma of living through this, day after day."