Thought provoking...

So what would you do in this situation?

Last night I took the kids with me to Walmart to finish up my grocery shopping. Little did I know that my "bubble of safety" would burst. The shopping trip was less than fun as the kids were so full of energy and having a difficult time listening to me and behaving. As we were walking out of the store with our groceries, we came face to face with police officers and their crime scene tape, as well as ambulances, fire trucks and hoards of onlookers. Apparently someone felt they had the right to shoot another human being as a way to resolve their conflict. Now I know things like this happen all the time, but not in your own backyard. It's concerning to me as I think what if we had been just 5 minutes faster in getting to the parking lot...it's certainly possible someone else, even little children could have been hurt as this person didn't seem to care about the value of life or the fact that he was shooting at someone in a parking lot full of people and most importantly families. It makes me fear for my children's safety in a public environment.

It seems that more and more violent crimes are happening in the area we live. It concerns me to send my child to school in an area where so many drug users, child abusers and sex offenders, as well as gang members are concentrated. I know I can't live a life of what ifs or raise my children in a bubble where they know nothing of the real world. I just don't feel that at the ages of 5, 3 and 9 months that they should have to be exposed to such harsh and violent things.

It's just some food for thought and certainly a reality check. Unfortunately I now have a curious and worried Mason wondering who was hurt and why someone would want to hurt them. How do you tell a 5 year old without scaring him or making him feel unsafe? Just one of those things parents have to learn how to handle.