Too much violence has been happening lately, sparking a lot of interesting discussions with my teens. First it was the massacre in Colorado at a Batman movie premiere and now it has hit closer to home.
This past Sunday, just a couple of hours after we left church, another place of worship located just two miles away became the scene of another tragic shooting. A Sikh temple was the target.
The gunman took the lives of six people before an officer shot and killed him. As of this writing, there are still a lot of unknowns, such as why a 40-year-old man who once served in the military would commit such a horrific crime.
For most of the day my family watched the local news that quickly became a national and then international story. To think that just 20 minutes from my home, a tragedy like this could happen.
How do you explain one tragedy after another? How do you make sense of it?
Raising children in a world filled with violence can make any parent have great concerns about their
future. How much worse will it get?
Where are we safe? In our schools? At the movie theatre? In our place of worship?
Of course every tragic event such as this leads to many saying, “It could happen anywhere.” And while that is true, it seems that violence is seeping its way into areas of our world where it never existed before.
Places of safety, enjoyment and comfort can quickly turn into bloodshed. Adults and children suddenly gunned down.
I have to admit, that if I were a child or teenager today, I would have a lot of concerns. I would wonder what kind of world I was living in. Where am I safe?
Well, the one place that can and should feel safe is the home. So make it a sanctuary where your children never have to fear and can openly share their feelings.
Related Articles:
Tragedy at a Batman Movie Premiere
Does Soda Cause Teen Violence?
Photo by Spatial Mongrel in Flickr