“Taylor, what do we do if there is a lockdown?”
This seemingly innocent question took me by surprise. My 9-year-old camper looked up at me with big brown eyes as if my answer was a life or death response. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that maybe in her mind, it was. “What do you mean?” I replied. She responded, “like if there is a shooter where do we hide?” Just like that I was sucker punched. It occurred to me that this girl, born after 9/11, after the Columbine shootings and amidst what has now become weekly attacks of terror is used to this procedure. Fearing for her life is just a part of the daily routine.
My mom, a middle school teacher, also was thrown off by a student’s inquiry. One of her seventh graders asked if it was normal to have dreams of terrorists destroying the school. For those of us who were born before this age of terror this was never something we thought of. Parents were able to shelter us from the few atrocities that occurred around us. However, with horrific news presenting itself on the news almost daily, it is nearly impossible to shield children from these horrific events.
As a kid I never took lockdown drills seriously in school. We would all whisper and hold in our bursts of giggles as we crouched down away from the windows. School shootings and terrorist attacks were things that happened far away. They could never affect us. However, today’s children are growing up post Sandy Hook, after the Paris attacks, and when a new mass shooting occurs daily. They take these drills with extreme seriousness because the fear is real.
According to ABC News, as of February 2016, 50 “mass murders or attempted mass murders at a school” had occurred since the tragic 1999 Columbine shootings. In those 50 incidents 141 people have been killed according to ABC News. No wonder my camper was so concerned. Schools and camps and movie theaters, among other places are no longer safe havens or sacred places. You can’t go anywhere without some fear trickling into your mind.
It isn’t just school shootings that cause fear. With recent terror attacks of large scale in Nice, Paris, Belgium, as well as daily attacks of terror in the middle east, the world seems a very scary place. According to “The Guardian” deaths via terrorism has increased five times since 9/11. It isn’t surprising that with these numbers there is a very real sense of fear that today’s children have grown up alongside of.
What is the meaning of all of this? Is there an answer? How do we put an end to this and allow our kids to enjoy their youth without being afraid? I wish I knew. For now, the only thing that we maybe can do is enjoy the time that we do have. Make each other feel safe by sharing our feelings. Tell people you love them and don’t take anything for granted. We have to stand together and say that hate and terror will not win. That might just be the first step toward a solution.
