story3084.xml

story3084.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

I was driving to work when I heard the Donna Valentine from K102 report that a plane had his the WTC. They weren't sure what kind or how big the plane was. By the time I got to work we turned on the TV and couldn't believe what we were seeing. I have three children ages 11,9 and 4 and I just kept thinking how was I going to work through this day, knowing they were in school and at daycare. I called my oldest son's school and they told us that they were keeping the kids away from the televisions and inside during recess. Ironically enough, his school is across the street from a National Gaurd Armory.That gave me some peace of mind. Eric, my oldest was going to be the one I had to work with the hardest. When he got home, we sat down together and I told him what had really happened. Throughout the day, the kids had heard bits and pieces and had drawn their own conclusions. We watched the news together and we talked about what had happened. He wasn't scared, he was concerned, he was curious and he had questions which my husband and I tried to answer to the best of our ability. We saved the paper from the next day as a remembrance. I remember going through old boxes when I was little and found copies of the paper my mom and dad had saved when JFK was shot. Driving home from work that day I remember seeing people on the bridges and overhead walkways, waving flags and vetrans standing at attention as the cars rushed beneath them on the highway. Everything from that day seemed so surreal at the time, you didn't want to watch the tv but yet you couldn't turn it off either. The one question that Eric asked me that was the hardest to answer was "Mom, what makes a person want to be a part of a group that kills other people because they think God is telling them too?" He told me that there was no way God would tell anyone to do what these people did. I agree. Now, as we go on with our lives and I listen to news stories of people wanting to take the Pledge of Allegiance out of our schools or at least the "one nation under God..." part I think to myself how can you demand such a thing and who are the pleding their allegiance too? Right now I tell my kids to just love one another and be kind to each other and just have faith and believe. God Bless America