To the Editor:

Do we now live in a world where the first thought that enters a young skateboarder’s mind upon noticing something small and dark in a stranger’s hand is that it might be a gun?

I consider myself fortunate to have lived in Newtown for over three decades and to have experienced all that this idyllic town has to offer, including having my four beautiful children attend Sandy Hook Elementary School in the ‘80s and ‘90s. I am now a Florida snowbird and enjoy visiting family and friends each summer and fall.

Sadly, I had a disturbing experience during my latest visit that resurfaced the grief I felt during the 2012 school shooting.

Instead of going on my usual walk through Fairfield Hills, I decided to take a stroll among the joy and laughter that engulfs Dickinson Park on picture-perfect days. In what seemed like a normal, albeit unfortunate habit of our time, I walked along with my cell phone in my hand.

As I approached the skateboarding section of the park, I noticed two teenagers practicing their ollies along the path I was intending to cross, so I zigged-zagged my way through as unobtrusively as possible, lest I disrupt their Olympic dreams. As I neared them, I apologized for the intrusion and was unexpectedly floored by the response from the skateboarder closest to me.

Here we were in a totally relaxed and peaceful atmosphere when out of the blue he said, “To be honest, I thought you were carrying a gun.”

I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that a Newtown teenager has been impacted by 12/14/2012 and other mass shootings so much that his mind would immediately go to the scariest of places at the sight of a stranger approaching with an unknown object in their hand.

Outside of family matters, it’s hard for me to recall a more heart-stopping moment since, as a teenager myself, I watched Neil Armstrong take the first step onto the surface of the moon. Unfortunately, instead of pure elation, this one brought utter dismay.

There’s no question that something must be done so future generations don’t have to live in constant fear of being shot to death. It’s up to all of us to make it happen.

Sandy Hook — Never Forget.

Julio Carbonell

5640 Fairway Park Drive, Boynton Beach, Fla.