I was listening to the radio while driving my nearly 10-year-old daughter to piano lessons last night. It happened to be on NPR, which I don't listen to as a general rule (my husband listens to it and then reports to me all the good stuff, while I get to listen to music I enjoy. It's a great arrangement), and before I could change the station, the segment caught my attention. It was about a woman who lost her mother in the 9/11 attacks. I listened as she talked about some of her struggles dealing with such a great loss in the national spotlight. I was intrigued by her experience. It wasn't until the NPR guy said at the end of the segment that there would soon be a 10-year tribute that it dawned on me that it really has been a decade since that day. I said, "Oh yeah. It's been 10 years."
And my daughter asked, "10 years since what?"
I was floored. How could she not know? "Since nine eleven." She was silent. "Do you know what that is?" "No." "The nine eleven attacks? Twin towers? Osama bin Laden?" Nope, nope, nope.
Woah.
So I set about explaining, in pretty simple terms, what happened on that day. About Osama bin Laden and terrorism. I think it was the first time we'd even talked about the concept of terrorism. We talked about the men who hijacked the planes, and the passengers who fought back and went down with the plane in Pennsylvania. We talked about the images on TV, about watching the towers fall to the ground, and then the dust that was everywhere. About the rubble, and searching for survivors. "You wouldn't believe it, Miciah. It was crazy." Then we talked about the wars our country is fighting (she knew about those - we sometimes talk about them) and about how those stemmed from that one crazy, unbelievable day. We talked about Osama bin Laden, and how our country just issued an order to go in and kill him, and about how it's weird to be happy that someone was killed.
Miciah was silent and solemn for most of the conversation, and occasionally threw in a "That's awful."
I was surprised how sad I still am about what happened that day. I found myself suppressing the getting-choked-up feeling, my chest getting tight, and tears right behind my eyes. I talked to Miciah about how sad we all were, for a long time. How comedians stopped their work for a while because no one wanted to laugh. Things just didn't seem very funny. It truly was a life-changing day.
Strange that I was pregnant with her when 9/11 happened. Strange that an event that so impacted my life and my time was unknown to her, even though she's so young.
On the one hand, I'm glad she didn't know. I'm glad she didn't have to live through that. But on the other hand, it's so important for her to understand this event that has shaped our last 10 years*. If we really can prevent repeating history by learning about it, then by golly, this rising generation better learn about 9/11!
(*It seems a little over-the-top to say that this event "shaped our last 10 years", but in this case, I don't think it's an exaggeration. Could you imagine what the last decade would have looked like if the 9/11 events hadn't happened?)
Getting on a plane would be easier?
ReplyDeleteSeriously. That's actually one of the things we talked about. "You know how security at airports is so ridiculous? That's 9/11, too."
ReplyDeleteI had almost forgotten how no one wanted to be funny. People felt like laughing at TV shows and comedians felt totally inappropriate. And for a little while there, the nations was totally unified. Maybe only for a couple of weeks, but I remember how strange that was to see American flags hung from every pedestrian bridge over the freeway and know that no one was rolling their eyes over the "conservatives showing their patriotism." Everyone had respect for what they knew the flag was representing in that moment--the people who had died.
ReplyDelete