I've been remembering and researching the 60s lately, so the past is on my mind a lot. I've had 44 years to process the past, but the present still confounds me. We were afraid of so much after the trauma of the wars. The Soviet Union was a threat, the cold war and bomb shelters were something even elementary school children knew about. We had Duck and Cover drills in case of a nuclear attack. I look at the broad history and think that the people of that era have every reason to be anxious and maybe even pessimistic. As the character of a nation is shaped, so is the character of its children.
Self-medicating and an infusion of self-centeredness are the most obvious results of my generation's fearful upbringing. (among others)
But the children in our present time are just as fearful, if not more so. An overwhelming amount of information and disinformation is a keyboard away. Our media bombards us with tragedies from around the globe. So people withdraw and focus on taking care of their own, turning a suspicious eye on others who might need some help. Stranger Danger annoys the shit out of me, since the facts don't support the need for the paranoia, and neighborhoods suffer because of the insular nature of the fear.
Today my heart broke a little bit for a blogger I follow. Her 4th-grade daughter brought home a letter stating an email had been received that there would be mass violence at an unnamed elementary school in their district. These schools already stage regular lock-down drills to teach the children how to silently hide during an attack, how to barricade the doors, and what to throw at the attackers to slow them down. The evil they're afraid of doesn't even have a face.
We just observed the 15th anniversary of the Columbine Massacre. Thirteen years have passed since the 9/11 Attack. It's too horrible to think of all the attacks that have happened since then.
So instead of pondering the past, I'm going to devote some time thinking about how to help our children to be strong and confident in their ability to deal with the world.
Self-medicating and an infusion of self-centeredness are the most obvious results of my generation's fearful upbringing. (among others)
But the children in our present time are just as fearful, if not more so. An overwhelming amount of information and disinformation is a keyboard away. Our media bombards us with tragedies from around the globe. So people withdraw and focus on taking care of their own, turning a suspicious eye on others who might need some help. Stranger Danger annoys the shit out of me, since the facts don't support the need for the paranoia, and neighborhoods suffer because of the insular nature of the fear.
Today my heart broke a little bit for a blogger I follow. Her 4th-grade daughter brought home a letter stating an email had been received that there would be mass violence at an unnamed elementary school in their district. These schools already stage regular lock-down drills to teach the children how to silently hide during an attack, how to barricade the doors, and what to throw at the attackers to slow them down. The evil they're afraid of doesn't even have a face.
We just observed the 15th anniversary of the Columbine Massacre. Thirteen years have passed since the 9/11 Attack. It's too horrible to think of all the attacks that have happened since then.
So instead of pondering the past, I'm going to devote some time thinking about how to help our children to be strong and confident in their ability to deal with the world.
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