9/11

With the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks coming up, I have been  considering my fourteen year old grandson and thirteen year old granddaughter.  They have grown up under the shadow of the 9/11 bombings.  I remember at the time of the bombings, letting them know just enough to answer their questions about what was on the news, without letting them know so much they would be frightened or fixated on it.  After all, they were toddlers, but very bright for their ages.  And here it is ten years later and we are still dealing with this evil that is trying to poison the world.   I wonder how all this will color the children's lives.

 I grew up with the threat of nuclear attack, but that threat seemed rather remote, to be honest.  It had never happened in the USA, so it did not seem imminent.  I have read plenty about the sword of nuclear attack hanging over the heads of people of my generation and how it supposedly made us fearful, but I have never met anyone who felt that way. Even the air raid drills in grade school did not make us dwell long on the threat. That is not to say we did not realize there was a serious threat, and we paid a lot of attention to crises that might trigger an attack, but for the most part, it was not anything that had a deep conscious affect on our daily lives.  Of course, we did not have all the news coverage on television to keep the issue in front of us, that exists today. Also, we had leaders who were committed to preventing any such attack, so we could feel fairly secure. (One could argue their policies but we did not experience a nuclear attack.)

 I would like to think children are too immature to realize the full extent of the threat of terrorism.  But I know that children not only can perceive threats,  but can be traumatized by them even more than adults.  I hope that we can find a solution to today's terrorist threats (which, indeed, could include a nuclear disaster) and our children can concentrate on growing up safely in a saner world.  My guess is, however, there always will be some type of danger, other than the usual drug and violence issues (which are bad enough!), to deal with.  Seems where there is no evil, there is always someone to create it. You know the old political science theory about vacuums being filled.

I am ending this post now because I really want to go on  a political rant.  The reason I am not doing so is those who understand our situation, already agree with me and I would be preaching to the choir. Those who do not agree are too damned niave to understand.  You can substitute your choice of words for niave.