Picture this: You’re sitting in your car minding your own business. Your saxophones are in their cases in the backseat. Suddenly, seemingly out of the blue, the police surround your car, guns drawn, and order you to step out of your vehicle. A search of your car turns up no weapons, only your saxophones and other musical gear.
Does this sound far-fetched? It’s not. A similar incident happened to a saxophone player in the sleepy little town of Kingston, Washington (population 2,099). In this day of gun violence, apparently nothing out of the perceived ordinary, is taken for granted by the citizens of small towns.
According to an article published in the March 1, 2013 online edition of the Kingston Community News, an elementary school was locked down, all because of a man and his saxophone.
Is that a saxophone in your backseat? Or are you just happy to see me?
The article, titled “Gordon locked down; officers find saxophone, but no threat”, explains that last Friday a parent reported that they “saw a man sitting in a car at the end of [Gordon Elementary School’s] driveway, possibly with a gun in the car.” School admin people immediately called 911, and the school was locked down.
Apparently Kitsap Country Sheriff’s deputies arrived very quickly, and the man allowed his car to be searched. (Like you have a lot of choice in these type of situations.) No gun was found, but deputies did find a saxophone and other musical instruments.
According to the article, the man’s fellow band mates showed up shortly after the deputies. No word on whether their cars were searched as well. 😉
After the realization that there was no threat, the lock down was ended 10 – 15 minutes after it started, and all the children went back to their normal activities. School continued on to its usual time of 3:45.
Apparently the kids were fine during the lock down, and some lucky few even got to play in the gym during the event. None seemed traumatized by the happenings.
This article leaves me with all sorts of questions, such as:
- Who was the mystery sax player?
- Was he from out-of-town?
- In a town of about 2,100 people, why did the parent not know him?
- Why did the rest of the band show up at the school?
- Were they performing there for some reason?
- If so, why didn’t the school know that suspicious people from (presumably) out-of-town were going to be showing up at the school?
- If the band wasn’t performing at the school, why would they choose to meet there?
There’s perfectly good explanations for all of these questions, and they are not meant to be judgmental. All they are meant to do is say: Hey, the story’s not complete. What was going on there to cause all this commotion on a Friday afternoon, in this normally sleepy, Western Washington town?
Sometimes a saxophone, is just a saxophone
Sadly, for me this story speaks to a bigger issue: the loss of small town lifestyle and outlook, in a post-Sandy Hook world. What kind of culture of fear do we live in, that we now perceive a man sitting with a musical instrument—in a case or not, since the story doesn’t specify—as a potential gunman?
The school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut was horrific. However, how do we balance that ever-so-slight chance of violence, with trying to live a normal, emotionally-healthy life? I don’t have the answer. I’m not sure there even is one.
It used to be that small towns were where people went to escape the violence and crime of the city. Has the culture of fear eroded this security to the point where a musical instrument case, suddenly resembles a gun case in the minds of people not familiar with musical instruments? Or worse yet, with those that are.
Or worst of all: Could a saxophone out of its case, be mistaken for a gun? I certainly hope not. Because that would mean our slide down the slippery slope of fear has gone beyond the point of no return.
