TAKING SAFETY FOR GRANTED

One of the deep scars on the American psyche, post-9/11, is this loss of the sense of security. An attack on American soil has cost us forever the assumption that we are safe in our own country. The sniper attacks in the DC area only reinforced this loss. And our current "code orange" situation has everyone on edge.

In many of the circles that Amy and I run, people are unsympathetic to "all the fuss over 9/11." It's not that people are callous; no one would disagree that what happened eighteen months ago is a tragedy of unspeakable proportions. It's just that many of the people in our lives have never been able to take safety for granted. It is difficult to hear complaints about not feeling safe anymore; after all, that's been their life story.

Many of the kids in my youth program live in neighborhoods and go to schools that are turfed with guns and drugs. Most of my kids are black, and have to deal with "living with black," the feeling of being targeted by police, politicians, and racists. It is no guarantee to make it through the next week without being directly affected by violence and death and tragedy. The kids in Amy's program have been abused and neglected; to them, safety is a foreign concept. Whether the threats are real or imagined, there is always a sense of impending danger. Life, to the girls Amy works with, is a series of traumatic events, crises, and violations.

I do not wish to imply that middle-class Americans are wrong for feeling that this new sense of insecurity is unjustified and unfair. Indeed, it is right to want and to demand safety for oneself and one's loved ones. I guess I share others' lack of sympathy, though, when people act as if their situation is unique. In fact, most of the world lives in a state of constant fear, whether it be at the hands of unpredictable natural disasters, oppressive regimes, or military bloodshed. And for many of the people in my life and Amy's, such a life is status quo. Unfortunately, because we are fallen and live in a fallen world, no one can take safety for granted.