Remembering 9/11 from the Perspective of an 8 Year Old: The Boogeyman Has Been Defeated.

My mind constantly returns to the news of last night.  Even our history discussion on the fall of Rome somehow returned to the news of last night.  I did my best to explain the horror of September 11th to my youngest children but it's difficult to communicate the nightmare feeling of that day.  My oldest daughter was 8 years old.  She journaled her way through that day and I have shared her thoughts before but it seems appropriate to once again read and remember the horror of that day from the perspective of a child.


9/11/01 Larissa, Age 8

"Today has been a bad day and I mean bad because there were two planes that crashed into a skyscraper. How? People crashed the planes. And Mr Tho****'s relative was in the building 'cause he works there. And there was an explosion. And now the building fell down. And now the other one fell down. And war has been declared.

And there was a bomb in a car and it blew up. And now the pentagon is on fire. And they have the Air Force on duty. And now a plane is headed toward the Pentagon. Another plane is headed toward the Pentagon.

And people were jumping out the windows.

And part of the Pentagon fell down.

And more than 9 thousand people were killed.

And they won't let any planes fly except the Air Force and all the planes that are already flying, they try to get down as soon as possible.

And the Pentagon was hit by a plane because a plane crashed into the Pentagon on purpose. And the Air Force is still on duty and some people were killed and some people just really hurt.

And it is scary. People jumping out of windows and crying and dying and people screaming. It's just scary.

It is the worst time in all of history and it's really bad.

And all the planes that are already flying they sent to Canada.

It is really, really, really, really bad. And my mom is really, really scared.

and it's a disaster. And it's crazy. And people are really scared. And so am I.

Well, the planes have stopped for now and the Air Force is still on duty."

At 18, her reaction to the news made me realize how devastating that day was for her.  As I watched the news and saw the age range of those celebrating, I thought I understood and I shared this thought on Facebook:  The bitter rejoicing of those 16-25 strangely breaks my heart, as these are the children whose innocence and sense of security was destroyed that day. Their childhood boogeyman is dead.

They celebrate this in honor of all those who lost their lives, of all those who lost their loved ones, and of all those who continue to fight for the children of today.  They are not rejoicing in the loss of a life, they are rejoicing in the defeat of nightmares and the sense of justice for all whose lives were turned upside that day.    Let them rejoice for a day, they know the fight against evil is far from over.