Balancing Fear

Like every other family with school-aged kids here, we were affected by the closure of LA schools yesterday.

I'd already dropped my daughter off. Since we don't have cable anymore, I actually enjoy my news-free mornings and Riley and I listen to music on the way to school so we had no prior knowledge of the threat (the breaking news emails didn't come until later).

About 5 minutes away from work, Riley called to let me know that "1S1S"* had called in a bomb threat and school was canceled. She'd arranged for a ride home already and said, "guess I'll have to take my math final tomorrow." I commented that it may have been a student trying to avoid finals, but I heard from many that it was deemed a "credible" threat. (Later news states that the threat was a hoax after all.)

Most posts I've read about this are talking about the fear. Riley had no fear. Instead, she was occupied with planning what she'd do today in lieu of school. While she did believe that the threat was credible, she also seemed confident that the police and others would handle it.

Of course, I feel a sense of melancholy that she's accepted terrorist threats as part of life, but I also think she has the right attitude about it: she's not letting fear prevail. She acted responsibly by getting a ride home so she was away from the threat, but then went on about her life.

We can't change this particular aspect of the world we live in. But we can also keep living every day we're alive with abundance and gratitude. And making peace where we can.


*Yes, I do know that's not how it's spelled, but trying to avoid a certain kind of traffic here.