As the world continues to process how an assassination attempt could take place on one of the world’s most powerful people, parents and other guardians are faced with a dilemma no one wanted: should you and how do you speak to a child about an assassination attempt on a former, and likely the next, American president?
Let’s be clear, we should, and we must, have the conversations around the assassination attempt on former-President Donald Trump.
Few events in history are as significant as what just happened in America.
Parents, and other youth leadership figures, must process these events with youth.
Following dozens of conversations with teenagers since the events in Butler, Pennsylvania at the July 13 rally, here are my takeaways on how to help the young in a time of national trauma. What follows are statements made directly to this writer by teenagers:
Additionally, my thoughts on a response which will help them navigate this topic.
"I never thought that would happen in our lifetime"
Even though today’s teenagers were raised in an era of political instability, war and terrorism, being an American makes them feel safe. Events like the assassination attempt on former-President Trump are a shock to that sense of security.
However, teenagers need to understand that while this was a near miss, there were American heroes on that stage that day.
Celebrate the men and women of the secret service who give their life to protect the president, and the American resilience made clear as former-President Trump stood and the crowd chanted, "USA, USA, USA."
Then, contrast that heroism with what brought the nation to this point.
This is what hate and demonization do. They conjoin to make senseless possible.
Ask young people how they will shape an America where people agree to disagree again without demonizing those who hold other views.
"That is scary actually"
It was scary and is scary. They are right to feel this way.
What's important to remember is that there were several things that helped to neutralize the situation, in order that it did not worsen.
This is also a good opportunity to remind young people that God’s hand has always been on the shoulders of America. Call Mr. Trump’s survival for what it was, a terrifying hand of evil at work, but a miracle orchestrated by God.
Young people need to be reminded that there are security measures in place in government, the private sector, public spaces, and even at their schools.
Should they feel unsafe or uncertain, we must all practice, "see something, say something." They should also be reminded that our ultimate security is in our proximity to America’s God.
"He’s gonna win the presidency now"
This is likely, but time will tell. When bad things happen, oftentimes, good things can result. Whether or not Trump wins the presidency, there’s another good thing emergent from this: it's a wake-up call for all of America’s political leaders that things must change in our politics.
Eight years of demonizing Donald Trump, and his supporters, has consequences.
He shouldn’t be demonized, nor should his competitors.
Young people's voices are just as crucial to our democracy, as are the rest of America's.
Voting coincides with that, without question.
We may have an opinion, but our opinion doesn’t matter that much if we don't take a few minutes to register to vote and then cast our ballots.
"That’s a bad look on us"
Sure, this may be true. But, it also looks good on America too.
The rally attendees that Saturday afternoon, were there to participate in our sacred, democratic process.
This is something which should be celebrated, even when an assassin's bullet ripped through the crowd, like Donald J. Trump, they didn’t cower and run.
They stood as Americans defiant in their democracy in the face of a person who sought to take away the democratic right to vote for the candidate of their choice.
It's time we stop teaching history by showing our young people America’s lowlight reels and the highlight reels of every other nation.
Let’s do the opposite, celebrating America’s highlights and teach youth why this is the most important country in human history, and its indelible mark on global history. And why it’s still worth fighting for.
One thing we must all keep in mind is that young people are actually often more resilient than adults. They still believe they’re invincible and they should be taught that their country is strong too.
They're not shielded or protected from hardship and difficulty, but they have remarkable flexibility and recovery when faced with crisis. They may handle this horror better than the rest of us.
Remember, this conversation will teach us a lot when speaking to children because young people don’t know yet what they’re not allowed to say in a political environment.
In other words, they just tell the plain truth.
And our world is in dire need of a lot more truth.
Jeff Grenell is the founder of ythology.com, to inspire, educate and resource youth leaders to prepare the next generation, to lead in the Church and globally. Follow Jeff on Twitter: @jeffgrenell. Read Jeff Grenell's Reports - Here.