‘It could have been my child’

Concert attack hits close to home for many parents

It’s a parent’s worst fear. Something out of their control happens. Young people die. “It could have been my child.” We are sure that went through the minds of many parents here in the Twin Cities and around the world Monday night when news broke of a terrorist attack on a concert in Manchester, England.

Popular American singer Ariana Grande was performing to a large crowd numbering in the thousands at Manchester Arena. Most saw it as an opportunity for a great night out. But one group saw it as an opportunity for evil.

The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for what police say was a suicide bombing that killed at least 22 and left nearly 60 injured. Some of those killed were just teenagers. One of those who died was just 8 years old.

Police identified the suspected suicide bomber as Salman Abedi, 22. Another man is in custody. We’ll have to wait for more details.

No doubt many in Manchester, the U.K. and all over Europe are fearful, wondering “what’s next?”

The sentiment isn’t unknown over here, either. We have been both good and lucky when it comes to terror attacks in the years following Sept. 11, 2001. Homeland Security, the FBI and other agencies have done a great job. Most plots are detected before they could be carried out. But the threat is real. And truth be told, a lone terrorist—even a small terror cell—can be very hard to detect and track. Like a lone spree killer, such attacks can be almost impossible to prevent. That’s where the luck has come in.

An attack like this one, on a concert where younger folks congregate, is especially unnerving. It conjures all sorts of “what ifs.” It’s easy to see how some folks would start to worry more, maybe even avoid large gatherings. Especially in the big cities, but also in places like Texarkana which, while not totally immune from terrorists, is pretty far off their radar. Understandable, but misguided We don’t know what the future holds. We don’t know if this war will ever be over. We don’t know if we will ever feel as safe as we did before 9-11.

But we can’t live in fear and we can’t give in to fear. We can’t let the terrorists win.