To the Children,
As a child, I remember seeing the “Special Report” bulletins show up on my television screen accompanied by their serious sounding music. My heart would pound a bit as I waited to see what was happening in the world that would disrupt my television show.
Most I’m sure turned out to be pretty inconsequential, at least to my small world. But I do remember a few that scared me — usually they would involve airplanes, sometimes crashes, sometimes attacks.
As a result, I always had this idea in the back of my mind that airplanes were dangerous. I felt solace in the idea that as long as I was on the ground, I would be okay.
These days everything we watch is streamed, so I have more control over which of these Special Reports you see. And for that I am grateful.
In your cartoon worlds, there is good and bad, and the good always wins out in the end, and the bad… well, it’s not really that bad to begin with.
But when we flip the channel to the real world, things become more cloudy. The bad is worse than your minds could comprehend, and sometimes it wins.
And while I feared airplanes as a child, there is a whole lot more to face in your world. It’s hard to find a safe corner here. It can’t be found in offices or government buildings. It can’t be found in high schools or in grade schools. It can’t be found in restaurants, and it can’t be found in churches.
You don’t have any place to go where you can think, surely no one will go here. Those illusions are gone.
And that’s what I was thinking about as I sent you to your rooms to read while I watched a few minutes of the news. I was thinking about the light in your eyes and this cold, dark world that wants to turn it into fear.
And it’s not fair. It’s not fair that you are inheriting a world so much more dangerous than the one I grew up in. It’s not fair that in addition to tornado drills, you also have to practice lock down drills, and it’s not fair that one of these days you will start to understand what those lock down drills are for. It’s not fair that you will understand way too early that some people want to kill others solely to destroy what is good and what is innocent.
But the world never promised you fair.
And so as the years progress, and you start to understand what has started to seem like a biweekly occurrence of guns mixing with innocent life, I hope that you are able to rise above where I am. I hope you are able to embrace love and light and hope. Feel the fear. It’s only natural that it is there at times such as these. But then pack it away and rise above.
Because regardless of the motive or the perpetrator, the real cause of such events is evil. And the way to defeat evil is to reside in good.
The best hope we have resides in the hearts of those who refuse to fall into the darkness.
You all are our hope.
I just wish we had better to offer you.
It is exactly how I feel and I actually have anxiety over it. I keep trying to find a away to teach my girls to be safe but more importantly to be prepared and to have the courage to raise above and conquer whatever comes their way. I worry about what the future holds and a lot what ifs run through my head. Glad to know I’m not the only one.