Raising a child in Today's society

          When you have a baby, your first thought is usually happines,tears of joy, and such huge possibilities for that babies' future. You don't think about everything bad that can or will happen. When I had my son, besides the depression, all I could think about was how he was changing my world and how it's just the start of the impact he will have on this world. As he is growing up, with all of these terrible things going on in the world, most people's first instincts would be to hide their child in a bubble in the house and tell them how cruel of a world this is, and that the world outside is dangerous. I can't say that I haven't thought about doing that, for a few seconds. When I think about things, though, I am starting to realize that you CAN'T live your life in fear. If you do, what kind of life is that, constantly looking over your shoulder; waiting for something bad to happen? Holing you and your family up in the house; afraid that if you go to the store, or visit your family, you will get shot or beat or raped. Honestly, this world has always been cruel, and it has only been since the news has gotten better at reporting all of the bad things and nothing good, that people have started to become more and more afraid; spitting hatred, instead of coming together. The more news you watch, the more you are afraid, and the more everyone has control over you and your thoughts. I don't want my son to grow up in a cruel world, but the truth of it is, he is. There is always cruelty; animal abuse, racism, child abuse, rape, relationship abuse, murder, mass genocide and murder, drunk driving, among many other things. We can try to hide them from the cruelty of this world, but the reality is, it's not going to work. We have to teach them that yes, the world can be cruel, but raise our children to be loving, caring, compassionate human beings. We have to teach them to stand up for themselves and their family and friends, but even more so, people they don't know.We have to teach them that even though the world is cruel, not to feed into it, but to be the helping hand that people need. We can't hide the bad from them, but we CAN try to teach them to LOVE. There will always be hate and cruelty, but there will also  be love. <3 We just have to try and make the light from love shine brighter than the darkness of hatred, because light is always brightest in the dark.