Compassion Thwarts School Shooter

This Wednesday marks the one year anniversary of a remarkable event that is re-told compellingly on this special edition of PEACE TALKS RADIO. It’s the story of a person, who quite unexpectedly, wound up diffusing a conflict situation that appeared to be heading down an all-too familiar path. August 20, 2013, school clerk Antoinette Tuff was at her job at a Suburban Atlanta elementary school of 800 students. She was only temporarily filling in at the front office, when an agitated 20 year old man carrying an AK-47 semi-automatic rifle and hundreds of rounds of ammunition came in threatening to open fire. Now you may not remember this story because it only made news for about a day or two. There were no deaths, there was no community in mourning, no reporters camping out for the funerals a week later, and there was no shooter turning the gun on himself or a good guy with a gun finishing the suspect off. There was, however, Antoinette Tuff, the 46 year old school clerk there , using calm words, empathy and compassion — while most of the time, having an open line to the 911 operator…and truly being in the line of fire. In part, what Antoinette Tuff employed was a kind of “nonviolent communication” that we’ve covered before on Peace Talks Radio. So we also go back into our archive to re-visit one of those conversations with NVC expert Jorge Rubio. Peace Talks Radio is produced by the non-profit media organization Good Radio Shows, Inc. This series on peacemaking and nonviolent conflict resolution explores the art and science of peacemaking. The programs consider examples of effective peacemaking in our history, and feature people with ideas about how to make peace in our daily lives – within ourselves and in our circles of common experience – our families, our neighborhoods, our schools, our workplaces. Some episodes also look at ways to address challenges to peace between nations around the globe. The series has won two Paul Re Peace Prizes from the University of New Mexico and a New York Festivals Medal for Best Human Relations Program. For more information, visit www.goodradioshows.org or view this video: http://vimeo.com/102081425

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