Written by Dr. Laura LustigLESSONS FOR PROMOTING CHILDREN’S RESILIENCE AGAINST THE FACE OF VIOLENCE
Charles Dickens wrote: “These are the best of times - these are the worst of times”. For all Americans, we are like the twin cities about which he wrote. We have been shocked by unexpected violence, domestically from children, more shocking because as Americans they are our precious treasure; and from abroad, more shocking because we have survived 2 World Wars and numerous other wars without having our homeland invaded. These events, the numerous school shootings and the numerous lives lost at the WTC, represent the worst of times. The effect on thousands of children, whose feelings of safety and security may be damaged by what may appear to them as the powerlessness of adults in the face of danger, can hardly be appraised at this time.
But America has demonstrated, under crisis, lessons that promote resilience. Acts of compassion and caring about the lives of others, heroism in the face of danger, and rebuilding a stronger, less complacent society, are some of the ways in which we have been shaken out of apathy. In this, the most traumatic crisis we have faced, let’s not forget our children. We have the opportunity for reappraisal of the ways in which children become inured to violence, and thus apathetic about it. Let’s learn lessons that can be the basis for taking active steps to counteract it. In this way, those who died will not have died in vain. Not blind vigilance, but strength built from teaching moral values; not paranoia about other ethnic groups, but recognition and acceptance of differences; not apathy but active steps to diminish the gratuitous violence witnessed by our children through the media - to be replaced by stories of real-life courage and compassion; these are some of the ways our children can become the future generations of a strong, united America.
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