Internet safety begins at home and that is why my legislation

“Internet safety begins at home and that is why my legislation would require the Federal Trade Commission to design and publish a unique website to serve as a clearinghouse and resource for parents, teachers and children for information on the dangers of surfing the Internet.” Thus spoke Mike Fitzpatrick, a man of his time yet guided by wisdom older than the wires that carry the world’s thoughts. Though his words are modern — filled with mention of laws, technology, and education — the truth they carry is ancient. For he speaks not only of computers and screens, but of the sacred duty of the household: to guard the innocence of youth, to teach discernment, and to ensure that the light of knowledge does not become the fire of destruction.

When Fitzpatrick declares that “Internet safety begins at home,” he reminds us of a timeless order — that all virtue and all wisdom take root in the hearth. Long before there were laws or schools, the home was the first temple of learning. It was there that parents taught their children to walk, to speak, to respect, to think. So too must they now teach them how to journey through the vast unseen world of the Internet, that realm where voices are countless but intentions are not always pure. The legislator’s words are not merely a call for law, but for responsibility, for the renewal of the family’s role as guardian of the mind and soul in an age of ceaseless information.

The origin of Fitzpatrick’s words lies in the dawn of a new digital age, when the Internet, once a tool of science and communication, became a living ocean of human thought — vast, luminous, and perilous. It brought knowledge to every doorstep, but also temptation; it carried wisdom and deceit side by side, as the sea carries both pearls and storms. Fitzpatrick saw that the young, wandering in this boundless realm without guidance, could be swept away by currents they did not understand. Thus, he sought to establish a clearinghouse, a place where light could be gathered, and where parents and teachers could find the knowledge to guide their own.

Think of the ancient mariners who first learned to sail the seas. Without maps or compasses, they looked to the stars for guidance. Those who sailed without wisdom perished; those who learned the laws of the waves survived and flourished. So too must modern families become navigators of this new ocean — teaching their children not to fear the waves, but to sail with vigilance and virtue. A child who learns discipline and discernment at home becomes, in the digital world, a wise voyager, not a castaway.

History, too, bears witness to this truth. In every age of discovery, humanity has wrestled with new powers. When the printing press was born, some feared it would spread heresy; yet it also spread enlightenment. When electricity lit the night, it also brought new dangers. And now, in the age of the Internet, the same duality persists — light and shadow intertwined. The wise do not banish invention; they teach stewardship. Fitzpatrick’s vision was thus not to hinder progress, but to guide it with knowledge, to ensure that the flame of discovery would warm rather than burn.

Let this be a warning and a charge to all who dwell in the present age: teach your children before the world teaches them, for the world’s lessons are not always kind. The Internet can raise the mind to heaven or plunge it into darkness — and the difference lies in guidance. Parents, teachers, and mentors must walk beside the young, not behind them. They must not fear technology, but master it with moral wisdom. For the home that neglects to guide its children in this new realm is like a fortress with open gates.

Therefore, the lesson of Fitzpatrick’s words is this: guard the gates of knowledge with virtue and love. Let the home once again be the forge where character is tempered, where curiosity is balanced by conscience, and where the bright screen becomes a window to understanding, not a mirror of vanity. Every parent must be both shepherd and sentinel, every teacher both mentor and mapmaker. The Internet is vast, but the light of wisdom is stronger still.

And so, let us heed the truth hidden within this modern decree: safety begins not in law, but in the heart; not in code, but in care. If the home shines with understanding, the child will walk in safety — and the shadows of the digital age will fall behind them, as surely as night flees before the dawn.