"Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
The anniversary of the Sandy Hook massacre is once again upon us. It lays heavy on our hearts and minds even if we would rather forget the reality of that dark day.
I saw Adam Lanza's cold, white face on the news the other day. His hair is lank, his lips pressed tight. It is the face of the Boogeyman. His victim's lie quietly in their graves, but Lanza's legacy continues to terrify children.
My six year old daughter's school conducts occasional lock-down drills. When they are announced, the children must run and hide as fast as they can. Classrooms have places where small children can run and hide, so they scramble to get the best spots. Their adrenaline is pumping and their young minds are calculating the quickest way to get to a good hiding place before the loud knocking begins.
The knocking always startles them and, for a moment, their frantic thoughts blur between the reality of trusted adults desperately trying to teach survival skills and the idea of a bad man with a gun who wants to kill them. Who is really at the door? Could this time be for real?
They are learning about murder and death too soon. My first grader knows far more than I did at her age. I fear for the effects of an anxiety ridden childhood on all of our children.
During the most recent drill, my daughter and two friends hid in a dark bathroom huddled together, staring at the dim light filtering under the door. She said they were shaking when the pounding noise started. Her friend burst into tears beside her. They hushed her, they can not make a noise or the bad man will kill them. The three girls embraced tightly and the tears and shaking subsided. Later they were praised for keeping the silence.
I wonder which is scarier, the occasional boogeyman or the constant thought of him? The Sandy Hook angels only knew fear for minutes. Our children will know fear for a lifetime.
by Heather Walsh
