Paranoia clouds minds

Due to events of the past summer, our nation is worried about safety. Not just the safety from unexpected terrorist attacks against our country, but safety against those who cannot seem to protect themselves -- our children. Too many children to remember, though each one a little tragedy of their own, have been kidnapped, raped or murdered at an alarming rate. But in our furor over the past few months to try and keep our children safe, we have become overprotective of them. This false overprotection will lead us to a false sense of fear that will permeate through our country and shroud us in a cloud of mistrust.\nSince the beginning of the summer, and continuing into the fall semester, each week brings more news of another child being lost or another's remains being found. This constant stream of horrible information, only recently tapering off, instills a horror across the nation's parents as well all others who have compassion for children. The cases are grisly and numerous -- eventually they overwhelm our senses and the pain numbs us to the details. There is danger lurking behind every bush and the face of every trusted family friend. A constant paranoia overcomes parents fearful of their child's well-being. To say these parents are becoming over-protective is to be redundant: Parents are naturally over-protective of their children, but there is a line that must be crossed. Citizens are becoming too paranoid. The same rampant fear from terrorism has also infected those guardians of children. \nBefore I left for college, there was a story on the evening news that concerned an "alleged abduction" of a child from his suburban and supposedly safe development. As the story goes, the boy saw a woman following him in her car as he was riding his bike, and according to which story is believed, she either slowed down directly behind him or actually came to a complete stop. Noticing the apparent danger that he was in, the boy dropped his bike and ran to the protective custody of his house. He told his mother what had happened, and she responded by calling the television news and the police. The story appeared on the nightly news that evening, and a small storm of paranoia enveloped my usually tranquil town.\nBut that's not the entirety of this story.\nThe woman who "followed" the boy as he was riding his bike happened to be a local school bus driver checking out her route before the new school year started. According to her, she never came to a complete stop during her drive, and her windows were rolled up and the air conditioning was on for the entire trip. She made no recognition to the boy on his bike. The bus driver was only trying to do something good for her community, and instead, she gets labeled as an attempted child abductor. Paranoia ruins reputations and is willing to spring up at any time, anywhere, in order to stir up and create distrust among the populace.\nAlthough the number of child abductions has decreased in the last few weeks, the message still should remain: To be human is to be worrisome. A certain amount of worry is necessary for keeping oneself alive and happy. But paranoia can rip us apart, causing us to see danger where none exists.