I remember one time when there was a High school shooting in the midwest. (not Columbine, but I can't remember where.) That afternoon, parents met at our elementary school to discuss safety issues with our principal. My friend requested I go with her, so even though I didn't have concerns about safety, I decided to do it as a favor to her. I was so surprised at the attitude of the parents. They were TERRIFIED about the possibility of dangerous things happening at our elementary school. One of them said, "Well, what will you do if a truck loaded with explosives drives up on to the lawn next to the school?" This is when I spoke up. I said, "Your child's chances of getting hit by a car on their way to school are FAR greater than the chance that someone will drive a truck of explosives up on to the school lawn. You hear about the one high school that had a shooting, but you have to remember there are hundreds of thousands of other high schools that DIDN'T have a shooting." It was amazing to see how their mood changed after that. Hysteria really can be infective. But at the same time, so can common sense.
My mother is always worrying about what COULD happen. She was worried when I moved to China. Now she is worried because of the city in which I live in California. I finally told her that if I lived my life in fear of what COULD happen, I would be afraid to do anything! You can't live your life with a "what if" attitude. And like the author of the article said, there are far more risks you don't acknowledge than the ones sensationalized on television.
6 comments:
I teach 8th graders. I don't need any imaginary fears...
I've heard it said somewhere that you should do the things you want to do even if you're afraid because you don't want to look back on your life with any regrets
Keep in mind that Mom DID pray Nene out of Dallas. :0)
Mom THINKS she prayed Nene out of Dallas, but I think the Lord's will trumps hers, and I think they stayed there as long as they were supposed to. :)
I have seen far too many overprotected Asian kids.
Fear? I live with a paranoid father. He gets panic attacks when I go out of the house and is forever checking that all the doors are properly bolted. It is difficult to assuage him and that is quite stressful.
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