In a world so hard and dirty, so fouled and confused

For the past day or so I've been really affected by the story of little Leiby Kletzky, the 8-year-old Hasidic boy from Brooklyn who was murdered yesterday on his way home from summer camp. It was apparently the first day his parents had allowed him to walk the seven blocks home alone.

Seven blocks.

He pleaded with them to let him go it alone. They practiced the route beforehand.

It didn't matter.

I realize this was New York, but it can happen anywhere and is easily a parent's worst nightmare. But stories like this never really hit me -- and I mean really hit me -- until I had kids of my own.

Not that I am waxing nostalgic about the good old days, but did this happen when I was kid? Are there more child abductions today, or just increased media exposure? Did I live in a cocoon? Were my parents afraid to let me go somewhere by myself, even as I grew older? Did they struggle with this decision? If so, they didn't let on.

I started walking to school when I was in 5th grade; it was about a mile through some fairly busy traffic. My mom also let me go to the Acme by myself around the same time, a little further away.

One thing I feel fairly sure of: There didn't seem to be as many creeps (and that is the nicest word I can think of) around then as there are today.

I question those who think this is a better time for kids to grow up. Kids today are more stressed out, are more often living in single-parent households, are scheduled to extremes, and are going to public schools that are sinking. There are helicopter parents (perhaps with good reason). TV and video games are violent and full of smarmy and nefarious characters. Some people actually choose neighborhoods to live based on Sex Offender lists.

And the popular music that most kids are exposed to today is beyond terrible.

I am kidding about that last one....a little.

But seriously, like the story of Leiby, all of this just breaks my heart.