The Fear Has Got To Stop
In the Houston area, a senior in high school has been removed from his school and banned from participating in graduation ceremonies because he made a computer game map of his school and had a hammer in his bedroom. This is ridiculous. He has done nothing that thousands (if not millions) of kids have done before. Some for school projects. When I was a kid, we would play cops and robbers around local schools using cap guns or dart guns. Today, all of the kids in my neighborhood would have been arrested or in psychological counseling. As a nation, we have become ridiculously paranoid. When I was in high school, it was a given that the boys would most likely have some sort of pocket knife. Now, if a kid has a hammer in his bedroom, he is a possible terrorist.
People who live, work and travel through nothing but safe neighborhoods cower in fear of teenagers walking down the street. How many people bolt the doors of their homes as soon as they get in and refuse to ever open their windows do to fear? How many people flinch when there is a stranger at the door? We need to let go of our fear.