Harrowing Reason Why Teacher Wears a Cardigan Every Day to Work

A Reddit post explaining the reason why a former teacher always wore a cardigan to work has broken hearts online.

The post, titled “Why do you always wear a cardigan?”, shared by u/Conscious_Leopard_80, has racked up 14,000 upvotes since it was shared on January 22.

The woman explained that other teachers quizzed her outfit choice of slacks, a loose top and an open cardigan every day.

“Some of the other teachers made fun of my ‘uniform,’ and there was some attempted bullying that I ignored,” she wrote. “When they’d ask why I always wore what I did, I’d just reply that I liked it.”

A much simpler answer to the real reason, which highlights a serious issue in America: gun violence.

The woman, in her 40s, concluded her post by stating she eventually told another teacher why she always wore the same attire.

“When I was a kid, one of my cousins was killed in a school shooting. She bled out. It was really hard for me and my family.

“I ended up learning all I could about how to help someone who had been shot. I always wore a cardigan to school so if one of the kids got shot, I’d have something to use to put on the wound to hold pressure.

“The other teacher just said a quiet ‘oh,’ and nobody asked me again.”

Every day in the United States, 327 people are shot, and of those, 117 die on average, including 23 minors. While mass shootings often dominate headlines, they account for only 1 percent of all gun violence in the country, according to Brady United, an American nonprofit organization.

The majority of gun deaths—60 percent—are suicides, followed by 37 percent classified as homicides, which include the 1 percent from mass shootings. The remaining 3 percent are attributed to law enforcement-involved shootings, unintentional shootings and undetermined causes.

‘Educators Are Not Exempt’ From Trauma

Newsweek discussed the harrowing post with grief and trauma therapist Jill McMahon, from Scottsdale, Arizona.

She said: “Educators are not exempt from the trauma response caused by the fear associated with a possible school shooting. You don’t have to face a gun to experience its aftermath. To the contrary, the vicarious trauma that teachers may be experiencing is the distress that occurs when an individual has been indirectly exposed to trauma.”

The author of Bulletproof—Healing After Gun Violence & Trauma added that teachers are faced daily with the real possibility of a mass shooting.

McMahon told Newsweek: “In addition to fearing for their own safety, we are training them to be solely responsible for saving the lives of many young children. This can feel like an enormous psychological burden!

“This fear of the ‘next mass shooting’ can trigger our brains into a fight-or-flight hyperarousal, which feels like living in a state of chronic false alarms. This involuntary trauma response can become exhausting and result in burnout.

“Today’s teachers have been tasked with much more than just reading, writin, and science lessons. We need to start supporting them as the front-line responders that we’ve asked them to become.”

Reddit Reacts

As of now, the post has almost 150 comments. One user said: “Wow, OP, that’s next-level forethought. You turned something tragic into a way to protect others—major respect for that. Bet that nosy teacher wasn’t expecting that kind of answer. Bet she went straight to rethinking her life choices after that quiet ‘oh.'”

“I never understand why people care what others are wearing?? Like, a lot of the time people wear the same thing [because] it’s just what they like or feel comfortable in. Also unfortunate that you (we, in America) have to think about school shootings enough to prepare for them like that. I’m sorry for your loss,” said another commenter.

A third user wrote: “Damn…never ceases to amaze why people care about stuff like this and persist in asking people a very inane and stupid question. Your response was fantastic…just wish it didn’t have such a difficult basis.”

Newsweek reached out to u/Conscious_Leopard_80 for comment. We could not verify the details of the case.

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