Refusing to Live in Fear, A Valuable Lesson

Photo by Evan Brandt

Kids made up a sizable portion of the marchers during Tuesday's anti-violence march.

Feeling safe.

In the end, that's a basic need we all crave, but it is being denied to people who live in the central core of Pottstown and not because of anything they've done.

It is no accident that so many of those who marched in the humidity against violence Tuesday were children.

For in many ways, they are the ones most at risk, and not just physically.

To be sure, there is physical risk, as there is in just walking out your front door every morning.

But not too many of us have to worry about being hit, or our children being hit, by a stray bullet.

And even if no child gets hit this summer (from my keyboard to God's ears), those children will still have been hurt.

Their sense of security, so vital to the growth of a healthy psyche, will have been undermined.

They can't feel safe going out their back door and play in the yard; they can't feel safe going to the playground and, perhaps worst of all, they can't feel safe walking to school.

How can we expect this next generation to deal with the mountain of problems we're leaving them if we can't even give them a feeling of safety in their childhoods?

For what its worth, I'm glad these adults got together and got their children involved with marching; showed them that you can refuse to accept a life, or even a summer, of gnawing fear.

Do I think marching will stop crime?

No, although I hope it curtails it somewhat.

Does that mean its not worth doing?

No.

If for no other reason, its worth doing to show your children how you stand up to fear, face it head on and take what action what you can.


Kenya Edwards gets it.

No sooner had I typed the sentence above then I checked The Mercury's too-often volatile Facebook page to see if any of the commenters were getting out of hand under the story I posted after the march.

This is what she wrote in reply to one of them:

"Those kids were taught that they matter and their voice is worth being heard. I pray when they grow up they look at this march, and know that they can Ace that Test, they can get into that college that they may have thought was so far out of their reach, and they will not stand by and let ANYONE tell them their dreams are unreachable."

Below are the Tweets and Tout from our live coverage of Tuesday's march.