What sort of world will they grow up in? What sort of catastrophic events will they witness? Will they ever be touched by the evil that we're seeing now? Do they even have a future?
I've sobbed about these very questions and more on more than one occasion. What keeps my tears flowing is that this misguided hatred towards my American brothers and sisters - including my children - will never go away. And what's even more bleak, is that no one has any solutions to fix the problem. They're all afraid too, so it seems.
I now worry that as my daughter gains increasing independence, my fear will go beyond who she spends time with, where she's going and who's car is she riding in. I'll also wonder if she'll be a target at her school's next field trip to the zoo or whether she'll simply be at the wrong place at the wrong time when evil rears its ugly head again.
There's another, different fear that's specific for my young son.
It recently dawned on me that when he's 18, he'll have to register for Selective Service. Who knows what the state of our nation will be then, but there's a nagging thought in my head that one day, my son could be forced into war regardless of his choice. That scares me tremendously.
I've hugged my kiddos extra tightly these last few days in between moments of despair - thinking of the parents and loved ones left behind from Sunday's massacre. I'm somewhat at a loss on how to move forward, knowing that another attack on our culture, values and way of life is just a matter of time. The only thing that I can do is to love my kids hard and try to do so with patience, compassion and joy. None of that will protect me or my family from evil, but at least it will shift our main focus from fear to happiness.
