“No,” I said.

“She didn’t know you.

She made a harmful decision about information she should have passed along.

That’s on her, not you.”

The answer made Savannah thoughtful, but not frightened.

She went back to coloring a fox in a green scarf.

I learned then that protecting children does not always mean keeping every difficult truth from them.

Sometimes it means giving them truthful words they can carry without carrying blame.