Janese Johnson

Today was the fourth bomb threat my daughter has experienced in the past six months over at Asheville High School. That, along with a gunman threat that happened towards the end of the school year, has the kids reeling in uncertainty over how to respond to these situations.

Not only are kids these days exposed to bomb threats, gunman scares and global warming, they are being bombarded by the uncertainty of life through war and mortgage challenges. How is all this affecting our kids of today? How can we help create more certainty for young people during these very tumultuous times? These are the important questions that we need to be asking regularly, and then acting on.

When the first threat came at AHS, all the kids were quickly guided outside to a safe place; after waiting for a couple hours, they were finally released to go home early. We, the parents, received calls at every step of the way letting us know that our kids were safe. I sat anxiously by the phone waiting to hear that everyone was OK. It was hard not to jump in my car and get her, but my gut told me that this was OK, and would blow over.

Then came the gunman running through the school with a gun. My daughter called me while her whole class was hiding under the desks, and the doors were locked to prevent anyone dangerous from coming in. That was a terrifying moment for all of us. The school never called with that one, and to this day I am not sure what really happened.

The last two threats were taken seriously in their response, but both times everyone knew it was a prank call and not a real threat that was happening. My daughter called up as she was being evacuating from the school today, laughing while she was telling me there was another bomb threat.

All I can think of this time around is, how sad for the kids to be growing up in a time when bomb threats and gunmen are common events in their lives. When I was growing up, these were unimaginable. I had tornado and fire drills.

The sad truth is that these things are happening these days. And the schools need to take the phone threats seriously just in case. But what happens after so many of these prank calls, and so many of these evacuations? How does this affect the minds of our young people? Do they become immune to the possibility of violence in their life ó or are their nervous systems being more stressed on a daily basis with the thought of this actually happening?

Another fear that we are all living with is the effects of global warming. Weather changes are becoming evident to even the worst critic. Many of the young adults are wondering what will be around for them when they are grown.

Just last week, I heard a young person say that he didnít feel that he was ever going to be old because of the uncertainty in our world.

Our children deserve a better legacy than this, and it is up to us to help them live in a world that is more safe and certain. Many people wonder what an individual can do to help stop the snowball that seems to be rolling down the hill faster than we can think of. But I believe that we can all affect a more positive change.

One of the most important things we can do for the future generations is get out of apathy ourselves and start doing anything that is more positive. When everyone starts really caring about the well being of ìourî children, then change can really happen.

Teaching our children to care about each other, the environment, and help them to get active in the community are all-important steps towards the ending of an apathetic nation. In my opinion, apathy is the real problem, and compassion and positive action are the real solutions.

If we break the trance of apathy, then the future may look more hopeful and more certain for our young people. It is up to us to help the next generations. They will not ìcatchî the idea of certainty; we need to provide that for them.