Seven Years Later...

As most Americans today, I am devoting much of my thoughts to remembering the horrifying events of September 11th, 2001.

While I don't pretend to have anything to compare with the thousands of lives that were shattered, my own story that day shaped my parenting. My husband and I were sitting in a Gold Coast McDonalds, early for a 39 week ultrasound during my first pregnancy. The TV was on CNN and as we sat down with our orange juice (hoping to get the baby wiggling with a sugar high - it all seemed so exciting, in an ordinary sort of way), the news suddenly cut to live images of the burning North Tower. We watched flight 175 hit the South Tower: any remaining mystery about the event was dissolved and we walked silently disturbed onto the doctor's appointment. Baby was fine, ready for delivery in a week (which became 11 days), but the worry had started to creep in... what was happening to our world that day? My husband and I decided to skip work and just head home. The South Tower fell as we drove and we watched the North Tower go down when we arrived home to more TV coverage. What sort of world was I bringing this baby into? Could I somehow keep him inside until we were sure? My heart was broken thinking of the victims and their families. I ached deeply for all the mothers. (of course, that only begins to describe my feelings that day, but I'll just leave it there - my words could never honor our victims and heroes sufficiently.)

Seven years later, my heart still aches for those directly effected and I still worry. We are still unsure and nothing is significantly safer. We are still at war... a war that hasn't advanced the purpose of making us safer. And there really isn't anything that the average American can do about it. Is there?

In 2001, we stocked bottled water and prepared emergency kits. We bought duct tape (why did we buy duct tape?). In 2003, we believed our president when he had Colin Powell present us with faulty intelligence about Iraq. In 2004, to make a long story short, we botched our election. 2008, perhaps our only course of action as average Americans is to vote for a new administration that we can only hope might make a change.

But this is not a political blog. My purpose and thoughts lay with our children and the kind of world we are shaping for their future. The things we can do on a grass-roots level.

We can teach them about our world and other cultures, teach them not to hate. Instill in them a sense of honor and pride in our country and a respect for other nations as well. We need to remember that political views, religion, sexual orientation, nationality, color and gender do not make someone more or less worthy of our respect and consideration. Teach them how lucky we are to be Americans and to have the freedom of expression that so many others don't have; yet so many of us take for granted.

Today, and everyday, I will teach my children about Tolerance. Be kind to each other. It probably won't effect our national security, but I am hoping that common, everyday Good Deeds will make a difference somewhere.