Where were you on Sept. 11, 2001?
It's as clear as day to me. I had just sat down at my computer, checking e-mail, beginning to respond to parent requests, when our maintenance guy came running down the stairs exclaiming that a plane had hit the World Trade Center in New York.
At first we all though it must have been an accident. Then we heard about the second plane. Clearly, this was an act of terror. I vividly remember asking myself...what else is coming?
Flabbergasted, I wasn't sure what to think. Being a newlywed by six weeks and just out of college, I was completely floored, speechless. The rest of the day still radiates in my mind as a complete blur, glued to whatever news coverage we could find. I watched in complete terror as the first tower fell and then the second. How could this possibly be happening?
I worked for a fairly large church in Atlanta, one that housed a school of nearly 500 children. I remember the talks amongst the staff...how do you explain this to the students? How do you even begin to break apart the horrific events of that day to elementary school children, kids who's greatest concern is what their parents packed them for lunch and who they were going to share it with?
As a 23-year-old, I didn't think much about it. In fact, I was thankful, at the time, that I didn't have to make those decisions or have any of those tough conversations.
Fast forward to present day. I have three children, a 6-year-old, 4- year-old and 2-year-old. With the 10 year anniversary, I'm struck with the reality that the questions are coming. They're finally old enough, at least two of them, to begin to comprehend the atrocities of that day.
The questions have already begun as my oldest is starting to hear about 9/11 in his classroom. So far, we're just scratching the surface. How do you unravel the events of that day and the impact it's had on our country in the years that followed? That's a lot of ground to cover with children who have very little concept of true evil.
While the images of that day are forever burned into my psyche, my children have nothing more than passing mentions in the hallways and classrooms. I imagine it's much like I viewed history lessons on WWII. It's not real to them.
However, it is extremely real and even painful to me. How do I put that in words that my children could understand? So I've reached out into great depth of the internet for expert opinions.
If you're in the same boat, struggling with what to say, I encourage you to check out these resources for help.
1. CNN - Teaching Children About 9/11
2.
3. KSL Utah- Parents Need Sensitivity, Information
4. PBS- Classroom Resources, The Aftermath of 9/11
6. TodayMoms - How Do You Explain 9/11 to Your Kids?
7. Wall Street Journal - Explaining 9/11 to Kids
8. Family Education - Resources and Tips for Helping Children Understand
9. You Tube - How to Explain to Kids
10. Nickelodeon News - The Story Behind 9/11
Combing through these articles and videos has helped me better prepare for the conversations I'm bound to have with my children in the coming days. I hope they will also be helpful to you as well.
You mention two 'unnecessary' wars....these are no different than Korea or Vietnam....the politicians will not let our generals run our military. Instead the military's hands are tied due to p.c.-ness and politics and money (always follow that, y'know). WWII was the last war America was ALLOWED to win. Perhaps we could also toss in the Gulf War, but we weren't allowed to finish the job there, either. I have no problem talking to my son (who is intellectually challenged) about 9/11...he was only 9 at the time, but he remembers this day of infamy quite well. I guess Pearl Harbor was also faked? The USS Coale? That list can go on a long time. William, just keep living in your la-la land, ok? Peace, baby.
Without having looked at the websites you mention, I have settled on mostly general terms if it comes up. Along the lines of: Some people's minds are sick and full of hate, and all they want to do is hurt people who disagree with them. 9/11 victims were casualties of hatred (regardless of whom you hold responsible - Al Quaida or conspirators in our government) and all the grown-ups around them are doing their best to make sure nothing like that ever happens again. I'm hoping not to have to go into more detail than that, if at all. He may not even ask. But I'm going to check out the websites you list all the same. Thank you!
As for your other examples, you are attempting to dismiss my valid points amidst claims of conspiracy theorists...there is no need to address these points as they are irrelevant.
If my comments offended anyone, this is not my aim. If my comments made you think, good...and this is what I want for tomorrow's leaders, our children.
I will also look at some of the websites. In addition, I will include some history lessons comparing 9/11 to Pearl Harbor and WWII. I will tell him how ANYone who was Japanese or German were hated because of what had happened...much like Middle Easterns are today. He will be taught to understand the mindset of radical terrorists who are still determined to destroy anyone who is not Middle Eastern or who do not believe in their religion. I will teach him how most wars in the past have begun over religion. I will tell him that Americans (of any ethnicity) are free under our Constitution to worship as they please without repercussions. I will tell him how the German part of my family 'Frenchified' their German last names, in light of the Japanese all being rounded up and losing all they owned. I will tell them about my grandmother who said she was Austrian, though she was not. I didn't learn this until many years later. I will tell him about my dad and others in my family who fought in WWII.
He will find the Vietnam part very hard to fathom as he is a staunch supporter of our military and what America is and stands for. He is respectful of our flag and our military, both past and present. He already knows how America is hated by so many the world over. He knows that it all boils down to radicalism and most of all, envy. In other words, I will personalize 9/11 with some history lessons, including that of my own family. To sum it all up, I will teach him history as I was taught and as I know it, being as truthful as I know how. Unfortunately, I will also have to explain a bit how politics plays into the whole thing. Thank you, Ms. Pennington, for a thought provoking article.
I apologize for the multiple posts, but 9/11 to me is 'our' generation's Pearl Harbor.
WWW.9/11summary.com As for the buildings that did in fact get hit by commercial jets and did not fall, I remember one was a hotel...I will get the exact stories and my sources in the next two days time...just been very busy.
Regarding Native Americans, what was done to them was shameful indeed. Plus Europeans brought previously missing diseases to them, e.g., small pox, syphillis and the like. But Native Americans gave the whites marijuana ;)
http://911research.wtc7.net/talks/b7/history.html And I just want to reiterate one of the things I mentioned in my first post - jet fuel does not burn hot enough to melt steel, no matter how much you have and how long it burns, it is scientifically impossible as per the laws of physics.
I love my homeland and am not to blame for what the government does to feel a need to apologize...but I am patriotic enough to speak out when our government does wrong. Carl Schurz (in a U.S. Senate speech in 1872) said, "Our country right or wrong. When right, to be kept right. When wrong, to be put right". People say love it or leave it, I prefer the third option, change it. As for the native Americans, mixed response, to some we gave the carrot, to others we gave the stick, and we got those with carrots to help us with the stick. Of course, the settlers used some tribes, the British government others, the french still others and the spanish yet others still...and each used their carrot laden tribes to help against the others.
Marijuana is not just native to north America...it seems most cultures had some medicinal herbs they enjoyed to a fault. One think the sailors did get from the new world (south America and the carribian islands) was rum. They found the sugar cane but couldn't get it back so they fermented it to rum for the voyage.
Secondly, as for turning the other cheek...definitely not but I am against smacking the wrong guy just to make onlookers happy. The Taliban had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11 and our government didn't accuse them of it. We invaded their sovereign nation because we knew a single person was there and they refused to turn him over without evidence. It is that proud of our retaliation response that our government seemed to have been going for. We were attacked and we needed to show the world we were doing something about it...even if it meant doing something wrong. Third, we have been betraying Pakistan just as long (if not longer) than they have been betraying us...and we actively kill their innocent civilians on a regular basis and then say, "oops, our mistake. The wedding party of kids playing looked like terrorists through the drone's camera." And why didn't we invade pakistan if that's where bin laden was, that's why we went into afghanistan. We should have left one for the other based on that mentality