Like many of you I watched in horror on July 4th as a community parade turned into the latest (as of this writing, anyway) tragic shooting in the U.S. This one hit home for me in a personal way, since I used to live very near Highland Park and my oldest son was born at Highland Park Hospital. I have been to that exact spot many times when my older two boys were small (before moving to Annapolis 18 years ago) and can imagine all too well the terror felt by those families who simply wanted to enjoy a holiday parade with their children.
I now have kids in high school and college and am afraid for them in ways I know my parents never thought of when I was their age. In addition, my 20-year-old plans to be an elementary school teacher, which should be one of the safest jobs in the world, but isn’t. But the sad truth is it doesn’t matter. It could happen anywhere, any time — a grocery store, a church, a school, or a random street somewhere.