I&#x27;m 25, and I&#x27;ve lived in two cultures and racially I&#x27;m not white. I do not, however, understand this fear of offensive speech. Moreover, I cannot ignore the coincidence of the rise of this hypersensitivity and the rise of helicopter parenting and the general hand holding that has become more common for the last few years. Could these two things be related?<p>When I was a kid (&lt;5, so in the early 90&#x27;s), my parents didn&#x27;t let me leave the neighborhood, and probably rightfully so as I didn&#x27;t live in a &quot;safe&quot; area. However, my elementary school didn&#x27;t even let us walk freely <i>on the same block</i> as our school. I then moved to Palau, where my parents were from, in which the local kids make their own firecrackers with kerosene and mountain dew cans. To go from such a protected environment to a less protected one got me to see two different worlds...and may be &quot;balanced&quot; me out.<p>Either way, when I returned to the US a few years ago, and I&#x27;ve begun to see this protectiveness intensify. Just today, I saw kids walking on the street lead by an adult with their hands holding onto a string. When I was a kid, I perhaps walked holding hands with a partner in line, but a string? I&#x27;ve even seen children on a leash...<p>I understand, we should look to protect vulnerable children and teens from bad situations, but after a while, should we let people who are, as the article says, old enough to drive, marry, own guns, and some old enough to smoke and drink alcohol, make decisions and perhaps face the consequences of those decisions? This makes them more receptive to situations were they might be hurt or feel offense, and given that they are bound to face this, it will just make them better people and better adults.