Facing a Frightening World
“How am I supposed to explain this to my kids,” groaned a Dad following the Uvalde shootings.
He wasn’t expecting an answer. This was a rhetorical question. A lament of sorts. About the state of the world. The danger that can feel so close to home. For kids growing up, nowadays.
Global pandemics. A bloody war. Nuclear threats. Existential climate warnings. Violence on the streets. Guns everywhere. And mass murders in elementary schools.
We’re even fighting amongst ourselves. The gulf between ‘us’ and ‘them’ ever widening. And in the midst of the most connected time in human existence, people feel disconnected. Isolated. A plague of loneliness. Mental illness. Drug ODs. Suicides. Tragedies in Buffalo. And Uvalde.
Fear. Anger. Despair.
These emotions are real. Palpable. Prevalent. And can afflict our children. Impacting the way they see themselves. And everyone else. Now. And forever.
Growing up amid such frightening times seems burdensome. Oppressive. Almost, unfair.
Till we reflect on our youth. Realizing the world back then was frightening, too. And somehow, we managed. Survived. Even thrived.
How’d we do that?
