Being in the news business means you have to check your opinions, and often your feelings, at the door. You will simply go mad if you internalize all of the bad news that happens in the world that you have to report on.
I have now left that business behind, and although I rarely offer an opinion on a major news story on here, now that I am a parent, I find myself wondering about the world my child is going to grow up in.
I admit I never flew in an airplane before 9/11 so I don't remember a time where people weren't hyper aware on board or a security line where you could keep your shoes on. Most likely my children will also never know that as a reality. I however have never felt uncomfortable or avoided a flight because of fear.
If there is one thing I can teach my child. It is not to live his life in fear. No one knows when his time is up. For a 13-month-old in Brunswick, Georgia, God called him home much too soon for those of us here. 13 people at the Navy Yard were just going to work when God decided he wanted them back in heaven. It is a tragedy, for sure. But the people who wreak havoc on our every day lives, they want us to live our lives in fear. Those are the "terrorists" we should really be concerned about.
None is us knows when our time will run out. Hopefully it will be decades from now and I will be able to see my children's children start to grow up.
In addition to raising a kind, loyal and honest child, I want my Matty to grow up fearless. I want him to take chances. I want him to make mistakes. And yes, I want him to fail on occasion because, if we are honest with ourselves, we learned many lessons from our failures.
I look forward to a world where those with mental illnesses get the treatment they need, and teenagers don't find themselves so bored that they want to shoot someone because they feel like it. I hope my child can grow up in a world like that. If he can't, I hope he will at least embrace every day and ploughing ahead at full force to live his life to the fullest.
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