A Bullet proof shield and protection for children in the classroom….What about equally as important, a mental shield to protect children from unnecessary fear?
I have spent my life reading the thoughts of audiences of all ages from adult groups to universities to high schools. In the past 10 days I have picked up a sense of alarm in my audiences especially since some of them were literally picturing guns or rifles when I asked the audience to think of anything they want to focus their mind on. Feedback after shows has made it clear that the American public is filled with fear of how their children can be safe. With the beginning of school just around the corner, the alarm in their minds is made all the more dramatic. With the senseless killing of the Australian young man jogging in Oklahoma and now some twelve days later attention being given by a product being made to offer bullet proof protection in the classroom for children.
I will tell you whose thoughts we need to concern ourselves with and that is the children themselves. Talk about a nightmare of fear being produced in the minds of sensitive growing kids and all the more magnified by the great drama on the news, constant discussions of violence and stark images of school shootings. Do we stop at grade school? Shouldn’t kids be advised to wear bullet proof vests in a darkened movie theater? Dare we ignore adults, older people who perhaps cannot dive out of windows to stop the onslaught of bullets! I am overwhelmed on how extensively I have sensed, during my performances and after show gatherings, how much this is on the minds of people.
I do not have some mystical solution. I am not a miracle worker. I am a thought reader. But I do have two steps that I am going to suggest in a follow up shortly.