Today is a day that will forever affect me and millions of Americans. On September 11, 2001, thousands of Americans woke up, ready to go to work, board their planes, and live their lives. I venture to say that none of us were prepared for a fight, a war, to be brought to our doorstep, for people who hate us to barge through our front door, and to destroy and threaten our values and safety.
I woke up early that morning and went into school early so that I could meet with my algebra teacher to do some extra studying for the SAT that I planned to take a few months later. I was dressed in my band shirt as we had a pep rally and football game, the only one the band attended in the season, later that night. I was in 7th grade, no longer a small child and yet still innocent on many things in the world.
As my fellow students started to filter in, one of my friends came in announcing that the World Trade Centers had been attacked. At first, we thought maybe that they had been bombed like they had been before. Down here in Texas, reports were slower to come in. We didn’t have phones we could look up the story quickly and teachers were instructed to keep televisions off.
This was the last we heard until lunch when it was announced that the pep rally and football game had been cancelled. I’m embarrassed to say that we were in an uproar. How dare they cancel something that didn’t affect us. We didn’t live in New York or DC, that’s was miles away from us!
It wasn’t until the end of the day, when my friend’s mom picked me up and refused to let me go home to an empty house and took me to hers, that I finally saw what had happened that morning. I walked into her living room, heard the television was still on from probably being on all day, and then saw as one of the towers crumbled to the ground, people screaming and running as it happened.
My world changed. My understanding of who liked us was forever altered. When, just a year prior, my dad had carried on a hunting knife in his suitcase on the plane, I was now being scanned and probed because I forgot to take school scissors out of my backpack before going through the extensive security.
While I laid in bed last night, reminding myself of the events of 9/11, reminding myself that I was fortunate to not have a family member or friend directly involved of that day, and reminding myself to be thankful for every breath I take, I realized that the kids who are seniors in high school this year, about to graduate and go off to college, become their own people and lead their adult lives, have never been in a non-9/11 world. For them, it isn’t just a matter of what they do or don’t remember, but that they really weren’t even ALIVE.
How do I talk with my kids about the events of that day? How do I explain to them why the world we live in is the way it is?
I don’t think there is any rush to change their world. They don’t know any world other than this post-9/11 world. They don’t know a world where security was quick to go through or you could walk your guest to the gate.
So this poses the question, if you don’t have to address the change, how do you address when they might be afraid, when they might have fears, when they do realize that things could be different and their innocence changes?
There will always be incidents happening that will change our children’s worlds. It is easy for us to become afraid for our children and to pass on those fears. They can sense our fear and our stress. But what if we showed them the heroes in the world and the people who are working to make our world a better place, regardless of the bad people in the world.
I want my kids to be brave. I want my kids to have faith that the world has goodness even though it seems flooded with the bad and scary. I want my kids to have hope and to be the ones who will be the helpers in the world. I don’t want my kids to fear the world around the them.
I want to point out the good in this world to my kids. I want to encourage them to be the good, to be community helpers. To encourage them to have hope, to persevere through fear, I need demonstrate that to them. I need to push through my fears. I need to show them that, even when things are hard, I can help my community and I can make the world around us a better place. I can show them that, even when someone doesn’t like me, I can still work to be a better person.
Today is a day for reflection and remembrance. Today is a day for sharing stories of heroes and loved ones. Tomorrow is a day for strength, for perseverance, and for building hope for our children.