Seniors in High School this year were in Kindergarten 13 years ago. My son is now six. 23 percent of Americans were either too young or not even born yet when the planes hit.
Their lives have always had TSA, a war in the Middle East and wearing of red white and blue at school assemblies featuring service people and first responders in the first few weeks of school.
Today, J put on his blue shirt and shorts and made sure I had my patriotic colors on. And then he asked me why it was holiday and why we had school.
I gave him a simplified age appropriate answer that basically something very sad happened on this day and the fireman and policeman did everything they could do help so it is a day to say thank you to them and the soldiers, marines, airmen, and sailors that also try to keep us safe.
As the years go on he will be able to handle more of the details of the events of that day and the aftermath. I am not sure he will be able to make any better sense of it than those of us that lived through it.
But, I have a feeling images like this:
will still have a strong emotional effect on him the way this image still has an effect on me.
President Kennedy was killed 5 years before I was born, but that image still causes me to catch my breath and feel the tremendous sense of lose the country experienced at that time.
The image is more than just a piece of history, a poignant moment captured for posterity, it is part of our American consciousness and our identity.
Like my parents told me where they were when they found out Kennedy was assassinated, I will tell J where I was and what I did on September 11, 2001. I will tell him how the world changed. And I will hope he never has to live through a monumental event like this that he has to explain to his children and grandchildren.