What Sort of World Are We Leaving to Our Children?

Recently, I was having lunch on a bright and lovely day with my daughter and her roommate in their apartment, not far from where her father and I live.

My daughter has been “adulting” for several years now, although some laundry is still being done at our house and, occasionally, I’ll notice some household staples have been depleted — like toilet paper, shower soap, or cleaning supplies. I tell myself that her taking cleaning supplies means she is keeping her living situation a few steps above a biohazard or chemical dump, and that reassures me.

Anyway, against our better judgement, our daughter adopted a cat. I had invited myself over to her apartment to meet the new “grandfurbaby” and was enthusiastically welcomed. Particularly since I had brought Chinese take-out for lunch.

My daughter, her roommate, and I admired the cat for a while, watching it fetch a toy and chase a string back and forth along the couch while eating our food, chatting (as mothers and daughters do) about why she isn’t dating that nice boy from the restaurant and why she insists on wearing eyelashes that look like furry caterpillars, while semi-watching one of Netflix’s newest offerings, when I asked a simple question:

“Why aren’t you ladies out and about on this lovely Saturday afternoon?”

“Too scared,” my daughter responded.

I laughed. “Too scared? What’s that about?” I asked.

“Might get shot,” my daughter’s roommate replied.

Again I laughed. But then the two of them continued on.

“Can’t go to a concert.”

“Or to the mall.”

“Or to a movie theatre.”

“Church.”

“The grocery store.”

“Nightclub.”

“School.”

“The subway.”

“Parties.”

“Banks.”

“The hospital.”

“Retail stores.”

Suddenly, it wasn’t so funny anymore. And I stopped laughing. Although they were being somewhat facetious, the fact that they even have to think about random shooters in everyday places makes me sad in a number of ways. These are things I never had to think about as a child or young adult. No one I knew had a gun.

Everything I would say here, now, has been said before. And we must do something. Whether it’s better mental health services or gun control, or both, doing nothing is no longer an option.

Because I don’t want to have to keep asking myself “What sort of world are we leaving to our children?”