9-11 Through the Eyes of My 6 Year Old
"One time on this day, nine - ten" ,she began.
"Do you mean nine - eleven?" I asked.
"Yes, I mean nine - eleven. One time on this day some people that live in another country did bad things. They drove air planes into big tall buildings. Do you know why they did this, Mommy???"
By this time my curiosity was peaked, so I was anxious to hear her answer. "Why would people do such a horrible thing, sissy?" I asked her.
"Because we have things free here and they don't have free things there. They want to have the free things that we have."
I paused for a minute and then realized that my 6 year old daughter was learning what so many adults in this country take for granted. I elaborated on what she was saying by explaining to her that she was some what right, but that she was talking about freedom and asked her if she knew what freedom meant. We had a bit of a discussion about how men and women in the military help to give us our freedom. That means that we can vote on who we want to be the president, we can read and write what we want. We can also watch what we want on television and listen to whatever we choose on the radio. There are people in other countries that are told what they can watch or not watch and they have no say so in their government. That is why they don't like us. We have what they don't and they don't like that.
"That's not nice to be mad at someone else when they have something you want is it, Mommy? We should all share what we have." Shelby said.
This 6 year old has the world figured out...if only we could all be as smart at this 1st grader. If we could just all share what we have and the world would be a better place. In a perfect world, a 32 year old mother of three would not be explaining to her 6 year old daughter that before she was born, the worst terrorist attack to take place on US soil occurred. In a perfect world, this mother would not have to further explain the meaning of the word terrorist. It hurts my heart to think that in their lifetime something like this could possibly happen again. No matter how much we protect our children in our homes, these walls only go so far and we can only do so much to protect them. My prayer on this day, a day of remembrance is that the US (or any other country for that matter) never sees another 9-11, EVER. I also extend my prayers and condolences to the families who lost members on this tragic day. Their lives were forever changed that day, just as ours were. We all hugged our loved ones a little bit tighter that night and the weeks following. Let us remember the love we showed for one another in the days and weeks following that event. Let us pay our respects to the fallen heroes of 9-11, the fire fighters, police officers, emergency response workers, as well as the men and women of our armed forces who have sacrificed their lives for another. Your sacrifice will never be forgotten. The events of 9-11 will never be forgotten, the good and the bad.
