it won't happen to me

Everyone subconsciously thinks the phrase "It won't happen to me" at some point in their lives.  Think of these scenerios:
1) I won't get in an accident while I text and drive even though there is terribly scary advertising campaign going on now
2) I won't get a totally preventable disease even though the most recent statistics from the American Cancer Society say that 2 in 3 adults are overweight or obese and fewer than half get enough physical activity.
or, more pertinent to this blog
3) My kids will never act like "that" or "do that"

This 3rd scenerio has been on my mind a lot lately.  I watch older adults look at children obviously forgetting the one time their child had a temper tantrum in a store.  I watched the news stories of the peers and parents from the most recent school shooting talking about the bad seed and judging his parents.  It was hit home today as I learned about the family member of one of my closest friends.  This was a kid that was brought up in a loving home.  He went to Catholic School and grew up in a small town.  He probably went through DARE and had the "just say no club" sometime in late elementary school. His parents weren't divorced and his siblings were good examples.  If he was born in the era of "Mommy bloggers", his mother's blog would probably look a lot like this one.  She would write about his antics and try her best all day and then go to be praying for another day to do better as a parent, try harder, and love more. She probably envisioned a future for her children which all included higher education and spouses and children.  She, at some point probably thought, "It won't happen to me or them."  The sad thing is, it did.  Somewhere along the way, this kid was introduced to drugs. She has now lost a son and I am mourning with her and her family.  Not because I knew him that well, I only met him one time, but because I know that he was very loved by a lot of people. Those people are right now questioning everything about themselves and what they could have done differently.  But, could they?  Is it really their fault?  I'm sitting here hurting for each of them and thinking, "No, you are good."

So, this is where I get confused.  How do I protect my kids?  How do take this memory and use it for good?  I don't know if I can but I do know that today I took a little extra time to laugh as K. whined at the kitchen table until I took away his small plate and somehow balanced the large serving bowl on his highchair tray.  And, I said a prayer of thankfulness as he said "cheese" when A. snapped a shot from the kid tough camera that she got for her birthday.  Sometime these kids will lose their innocence and I hope that I know how to help them.  So, tonight, I pray for each of these family members that they find peace and a way to let the memory of his life and not his death carry on with them.

Here's to you, Michael.