danger

I'm trying to decide.

A couple of weeks ago I had a conversation with one of my favourite Canadian personalities, Stuart McLean. Stuart is best known for a series of books he wrote, called The Vinyl Cafe, which he reads weekly on a CBC Radio show by the same name. The stories are about a couple named Dave and Morley, their family, friends and neighbours. The stories generally feature some sort of madcap folly (usually involving Dave) that ends with a sentimental twist that just brings everyone closer together.

I asked Stuart to tell me about something that's important to him right now. He told me, among other things, that something that's weighing heavy on him is the perception - enforced in the political campaigns on both sides of the border, in the media, and the movies - that the world is a dangerous place filled with enemies. It is not, he says, as bad as those with an agenda try to paint it. He uses the War on Terror as an example of breeding fear in people that we are surrounded by enemies. He cites also the movie No Country for Old Men, which teaches viewers not to stop and help someone broken down on the side of the road because that was one of the killer's ways of reeling in victims.

"We do better when we trust and act out of our best selves," he said. "There is goodness everywhere, and it behooves us to look for it."

I have read, in recent months, a number of articles on this same topic. There is a growing movement, it seems, of people who think children today are coddled far too much. Everything is made so safe for them (Chinese products not withstanding) that we're protecting the life out of them. Only the most "irresponsible" parents these days, it seems, will let their elementary aged kids walk to school unaccompanied. Even back when I was at Newbold, 15 years ago, I was hired to walk these two sisters to school several mornings a week. Play time is arranged for them in play dates, instead of ringing the neighbour's door to play, and everything is organized for them so they don't have to do any creative thinking at all.

When I hear stories about my mum's childhood, waking up early in the morning and heading out in the orchard to play until dinner time, unfettered and worry free, it makes me sorry that I had even the restrictions I had - which were nothing compared to kids today. What I'd really like is to be the kind of parent that doesn't put the fear of death in her child for talking to strangers, who will let him play without a constant eye of concern baring down on him.

But then I hear stories like the one I covered in a nearby town, of this 12-year-old girl who was kidnapped by a transient and aggressively assulted for about 36 hours before escaping. She had ridden her scooter a few blocks to return a video - Chicken Little, as I recall. More recently, a man who was with his 15-month-old in a playground had to chase down another man who tried to run off with him (a couple of weeks ago), and today I read about a seven-year-old girl who was kidnapped (but rescued within a few hours) right under her father's and brothers' watchful eyes - also in a playground. That was just a town or two away from where another girl, 15 (I think), was murdered, strangled in broad daylight, on a nature trail bordering a residential neighbourhood. And a guy I interviewed tonight was walking home one evening a few weeks ago and was randomly jumped on by two yahoos in a truck and had his jaw broken.

So maybe Stuart is right, and the majority of people are safe and just want to do the best for themselves and their families. Maybe most people are more likely to help than harm. But how do you know if you've got a majority or minority member?

I'm not thinking so much for myself, but for Oliver and other kids that can't so much protect themselves. How do you reconcile these two worlds? To present the world as a friendly place, to not be overprotective, but yet not let them become another statistic?

I, myself, don't have an answer (besides prayer!). I guess it's just something I wanted to get off my chest, and see what others had to say about it. What do you think?