Code Yellow

Last week started with reviewing an essay that I'm currently writing about different alternatives for oil in Saudi Arabia. I was looking for something very interesting to add into my 750 words essay, furthermore, I wanted to have something interesting at the school too. I wished for a new and exciting experience as my future was hiding a great surprise for me. 

I went to school on Tuesday in the thick darkness of the morning, and I arrived, walked up the tiny and wet steps of the school's entrance and headed to the library to complete working on my essay. Then the day started regularly.  Yet something very, very, very new to me occurred. 

"Teachers, please mind the interruption, but the school is currently going through a Code Yellow Lockdown.  There's nothing to worry about now as we'll keep you updated" announced Mrs. Butler through the class's speaker. The first thing I said "What the hell is a Code Yellow?  Are they having a party that we should worry about?" Yes, this question really does show that I had absolutely no earthly knowledge about that!  Then my friend explained to me that a Code Yellow is better than a Code Red. And I said "There's a red color too?!" as my face looked really stupid. After that the situation was explained to me briefly, in normal English, not North Carolinian English, or even a coded English. A Code Yellow is when the school's administration suspects that there's a suspicious object in the school's campus, and for the sake of everyone's safety, the school must be searched. 

We didn't know how big that was until we were staying in our Titan Connect classroom for more than an hour. We didn't even know what that suspicious object was until we checked out the North Carolina abc News, North Carolina Fox News, The McDowell News, and their titles were "McDowell High is currently under a soft bomb threat lockdown".  Was I worried and scared?  I honestly have no idea, because all I remember about that day is feeling safe. The school's board responded to that threat very quick, and I knew that we were safe.  

Non of that would have happened in my country, and one person told me "Here's a new American experience to live." I laughed and remembered how I looked forward to something interesting and new, but nothing like that of course. That Code Yellow in McDowell High increased my respect to Americans because the way everyone handled the situation was very professional as everyone knew what to do. 

After being in a room for three hours without doing anything, most of us had to go to the restroom. And read this very carefully: a sherif had to escort us as a group to go there.  I was still amazed, and at the same time very thankful to be very safe in that place even though it was under a: bomb threat. 

At the end of the day the lockdown was over, everything was safe, and we went home. Then we found out that it wasn't a real threat.  What would've happened if I died young far away from home?  I don't know, but here I am, alive. That new experience made me appreciate my life once more, and I remembered what Paulo Coelho once wrote "Fear is what keeps us alive.".  Our lives are waiting for us to wake up and enjoy living them, and new experiences are nothing but refreshing stops that add something to us. 

Thank you, McDowell High.  

Thank you, McDowell County.  

الحمدلله.