When a Clock is a Ticking Time Bomb

When a Clock is a Ticking Time Bomb

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

September 21, 2015

President Ronald Reagan famously said “trust, but verify” mostly regarding the United States relations with the Soviet Union during the waning days of the Cold War. Excellent advice and it still applies today in virtually all areas of diplomacy, government, and life itself.

Enter Ahmed Mohamed, 14, a ninth grader attending MacArthur High School in Irving, Texas. Mohamed brought to school, on Monday, September 14, a supposed homemade clock – a clock that was not the result of a homework assignment for a science, math, or any other class. This self-imposed show and tell proved more show and very little tell as teachers and Principal Dan Cummings responded to the strangely designed clock with alarm bells of their own.

Could the homemade clock have been something more sinister? Shown side by side, it looks identical to a suitcase bomb – similar to those used to fell airplanes and buildings. Mohamed showed the clock to his engineering teacher who recommended the student not show it to anyone else. Ignoring the advice of his teacher, Mohamed showed the contraption to his English teacher who expressed alarm and contacted Cummings.

The safety of an entire school community at stake, Cummings took the absolute correct action by calling the police. With the spate of school-related violence continuing to rise, and school shootings fervently on the minds of many, better to overreact and be mistaken than underreact and die.

The police questioned Mohamed, who offered little explanation or information, thus his subsequent handcuffing and arrest. Police and school officials offering Mohamed the chance to explain – that was the trust – which when little to no response came, the verify became vital as suspicions grew. Mohamed didn’t even invoke the name of his engineering teacher in his defense.

That Mohamed is a Muslim has turned this story into a cause celeb, the reins of which have been grabbed by Barack Obama. Obama has once again sided with political correctness over safety and security by downplaying the potential for death, destruction, and devastation by quipping “Nice clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House?”

As it turns out, Mohamed’s “invention” is nothing more than an old 1980s Radio Shack item reassembled to look like an incendiary devise for reasons unknown. Perhaps to garner sympathy for the Muslim community by demonstrating Islamophobia in the Irving schools? Perhaps as a precursor to something more diabolical?

The boy’s father Mohamed El-Hassan Mohamed claimed his son was tortured by police and school officials. A native of Sudan and a naturalized American, Mohamed frequently returns to his native land to run for president. Additionally, he enlisted the aid of the terror-connected organization CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) to support his son and claim Islamophobia.

Had the student been a white Christian, police and school authorities would be applauded for preventing a potential terrorist attack on children. Instead, charges dropped, punishment at school rescinded, while an elementary school student who bit his breakfast toaster pastry into a crudely shaped “gun,” had his suspension upheld. This is March 2013 story of then seven-year-old Josh Welch, a second grader attending Park Elementary School in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, suspended for two days.

Obama is hypocritical by violating his own mantra of “if you see something, say something.” Or perhaps this only applies to white Christians.

I wrote about the vitality of vigilance in my 9-11 column: http://sanfordspeaksout.blogspot.com/2015/09/another-9-11-vigilance-or-venality.html. This applies 24/7, 365 days a year – everywhere – from elementary schools to bus depots and train stations and from stadiums to airports. Better safe than stupid. The alternative to vigilance is deleterious to our health, our lives, and this nation as a whole.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.