We need to be watching out for each other
Posted by Mary Ajax, President and CEO | Friday, August 13, 2010
I grew up in Burnsville in the 1950s, while it was still a rural community. Back then kids played outside all day and evening organizing their own games without parents or coaches. There was an informal neighborhood watch—moms and dads nearby keeping an eye on them.
My mom and her sister lived along Highway 13 and regularly warned each other when they saw strangers along the road.
Though we should always be alert for danger from strangers, we are at far greater risk of being harmed from someone we know, neighbors, friends, even family members.
I know this firsthand. For many years, in a house, in our neighborhood, one family after another was involved in crime. The police were called many times for domestic violence, drugs, child abuse and neglect.
My son, who was in grade school, wouldn’t cross the street to walk to school because he was afraid to get close to that house. If he was afraid, think about the innocent children in that house and the fear in which they lived. How could they go to school each day ready to learn? What were they learning about family love and relationships?
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