Mark Steyn explains more eloquently than I ever could why being passive is bad:
We do our children a disservice to raise them to entrust all to officialdom’s security blanket. Geraldo-like “protection†is a delusion: when something goes awry — whether on a September morning flight out of Logan or on a peaceful college campus — the state won’t be there to protect you. You’ll be the fellow on the scene who has to make the decision.
Please take the time to read the whole article. It’s good food for thought.