How do we prevent harm from coming to the innocent and vulnerable?

What can we do?

What can anyone do?

The answer isn't intuitive.

You can take every tool away and there will still be the fist.  

There will still be violence and injustice.

You can arm everyone to high heaven, and there will still be those without hesitation.

There will still be violence and injustice.

You can take every precaution, monitor every process, procedure, and probability and there will still be a chance.

There will still be violence and injustice.

It's not going anywhere.  Ever.  The universe itself is a cold, violent, and unforgiving place.  We're here for the ride, and it's kill or be killed.

So what do we do? How do we achieve peace?

Well, you can't...

The better question is how do we survive?
How do we deal with injustice?
How do we confront the unknown?
How do we act in the face of danger?

We need a hero, and that hero is you!

The right person in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world.  

As our socities grow, our connectivity strengthened, our awareness expanded, we are confronted with a heinous assumption that someone else will take care of the problem.  

"I don't have to act, someone else surely will" - The Bystander Effect

It plagues humanity, it lets injustice go unchecked, it allows innocents to be harmed, it lets our most vulnerable and desperate slip through cracks... unnoticeable until it rears its ugly head in a way most can't comprehend.

This is an inherent problem with the systems we have developed as a society to overcome the limitations of the individual.  We have become reliant on them to solve all of our problems.  We have come to expect others to take action to the point of paralysis.

Whether it's taxation, mitigating our guilt for not helping the needy...

Laws and enforcement, mitigating our guilt for not stopping crime...

Parents,  bosses, and leaders, mitigating our insecurity for not knowing what to do...

We have outsourced our guilt and insecurities onto others that may or may not exist.

If no one learns what to do, how to help, when to act on their own, no one will.

So it's not about how WE save the children.  It's not about what someone else can do.

It's about what they, the children themselves, can do.  It's about preparing them for the world they currently exist in, not the world we wish for them to have.  It's about teaching them to be vigilant and take the initiative to act.

No, not everyone can or will be a hero and save the day.  It's too much to ask or to delegate anyone but yourself.  But the courage to speak out, reach out and make a difference, can be taught and trained.

Whether it be speaking up for the bullied, stepping in and breaking up a fight, or even talking to the isolated and forgotten... Unless we learn to take action when we see the need arise, no one else will act.  There is no guarantee anyone else will protect or save your children.  Except themselves.

The best we can do is give them the tools and knowledge and training and experience to take care of themselves and be mindful of the world we are leaving them.