The children who go to school in a post Columbine, 9/11 and VT world
When the Columbine shootings occured, my oldest son was very young…..now he’s not. He turned 16 as of yesterday. When 9/11 happened, he was in 3rd grade. Now as a freshman, he’s lived through the VT shootings. So much violence in such a short life. And what bothers me the most is that it’s violence that is on a national level. Violence that is recognized and analyzed on a national, even global level. Living in a 24-7 News Cycle, we experience things close to the heart that would have just a few years ago, not even been known about except on a local level.
Just today a child in Texas came to school with an active hand grenade. In the past week there have 6 episodes of lockdown in North Alabama schools. It’s even happened today in our own state. At Lawrence County High School there are threats that a child brought a loaded handgun to school. We are hearing these things all over the country. But it takes on a new level of horrible when it is local and directly affects our children.
So as a mom, aunt, Godmother, friend, business woman and as a political activist, is there anything I can do? Is there anything any of us can do? As we look to the future and what we need to do to make this country the best place it can be, is there anything we can do to curb this violent atmosphere that plagues the generation of my children?
Is the "War on Terror" something we must fight at all levels? Even with local mentally ill individuals? It’s hard to even know what terrorism really is. In 4 different dictionaries, there are 4 different definitions. The American Heritage Dictionary defines terrorism as "the unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of coercing." It’s terrifying to realize that my own children could be the target of unlawful use of force or violence. That fact, and it is a fact, is enough to terrorize a nation….a state….a community….a school….a family….an individual heart.
Is this something that must be addressed on a global level, a national level, a state level, or a local level? Surely this isn’t something we have to just learn to live with.
