By BERN MORLEY
This coming Saturday, we, as a family, are going to the AFL Grand Final here in Melbourne. Approximately 100,000 people will attend the game with even more set to come along to the free after-concert.
My 7-year-old is particularly excited about this, as his team is in the top two. My 14-year-old daughter is less excited about the actual game and more into the fact that one of her idols will be singing before and after the event. Just so we’re clear, I’m talking about Ed Sheeran, not Tom Jones (no offence, Tom).
Yet, when I arrived home from work last night, both of them broke down as I walked through the door. They met me with cries of “We can’t go on Saturday”, “They’ll kidnap us” and “They’ll bomb us Mum!” The 14-year-old went on to say “I’m scared, but I REALLY want to see Ed Sheeran, I’m so conflicted”.
Priorities.
Say what? Who exactly are they? And what exactly have you two been watching? They told me that they’d just been watching the news and in particular, a story about ‘increased security’ at the MCG for the Grand Final due to a serious chance of terrorism.
This of course, followed the story of teenager and suspected terrorist, Numan Haider, being shot dead by Victorian police, no less than 13 kms away from our home. No wonder they were terrified.
It suddenly struck me that maybe I hadn’t been in tune with the level of danger my children are exposed to right now. Or maybe, I was, but I hadn’t taken the time to sit them down and explain what was going on. Calmly and rationally.
Am I, a mother of three, worried for their safety in light of all the raised terror threat? Am I scared?
If I’m honest, no I’m not. We went to the Royal Melbourne show last weekend and I’ve got to say, I was more worried about being laid out from a dodgy dagwood dog than being abducted by an IS terrorist.
You know what I am frightened of though, as a parent?
I’m terrified that one of my three beautiful children might one day fall victim to their own tortured mind and like some 22,000 other people in Australia over the last 10 years, take their own life. I worry that I will not know how to help them out of that black hole.
I worry that one of them will be involved a car accident, or worse, do something stupid in a car and cause the death of another.
I worry that cancer will get them before it gets me.
I worry that, despite my help and warnings, one of them will find themselves in a domestic violence situation they cannot escape and become one of the thousands of victims who are killed by the one person who is supposed to love them the most.
I worry about many things concerning my children, but do I worry that an act of terrorism, something that has accounted for 113 deaths over the last 10 years, will be something I should rearranging their lives for? No. No I don’t and no I won’t.
I am scared, however, for the community of Muslims who go about their lives, peacefully and respectfully and are about to be – or are already being – targeted unfairly. I fear that with the increased, constant and often unconfirmed stories in the daily papers and news that this will escalate unnecessarily.
Muslims in Australia have suddenly become awfully isolated and it shouldn’t be this way. Islamic civilisations have been as beautiful, as splendid, rich, and brilliant as any other. It is not the religion at fault here, it is the extremists and as history shows, extremists are found to splinter from all religions, Christianity included.
If I am to stop my children from going to concerts, events, to the local shops even, for fear they will be snatched from the streets and used to teach the rest of Australia a lesson, then I, then they, will cease to live anyway.
After discussing the situation with my children last night, my son, who’s 12 and Aspergers, stood up and said to me “So a few nutbags are trying to scare us and keep us from doing anything fun? Surely if we start living in fear of what might happen, they’ve already won?”
Amen, little man. Amen.
How about you? Are you scared by the recent events in Melbourne? Are you holding your children closer or avoiding certain events for fear of a terrorist attack?
Top Comments
I do not think we should let our fear of terrorism change our lives in any substantial way, but I do think that one has to be sensible. My dad's favourite saying to us girls when we were young was "Don't put yourselves in Harm's Way. Harm is out there, waiting for you, don't give it a foot in the door." It was more about being sensible - don't drink too much when you go out. Tell us who you will be out with. Don't drive when you've had a drink. Don't walk anywhere by yourself at 2am. Don't hitchhike. Don't pick up hitchhikers. Today I'd add, don't drink anything you haven't opened yourself. So we should be alert (as my son always says "The country needs more lerts") and careful, without letting our imagination carry us away.
Let's not assume the foetal position and not go anywhere, all because we are told that there is a miniscule chance that we may be harmed by terrorist attacks. That plays right into the terrorists hsnds