My child is still too young
Oct 11 '01
The Bottom Line E Pluribus Unum - Out of Many, One
My boy is still too young to even have any idea that something happened he needs to be worried about. I am relieved over that but I expect he will have questions when he is older and I will make sure he knows what happened during his lifetime.
Still I know many parents have children that are old enough to know that something is different. I have always held very strong beliefs about prejudice and I really don't believe it is right no matter what race, religion or other someone is.
I see this as being a time of fear. I can see many now being afraid or distrustful of all foreigners, especially those from Afghanistan or those that look similar.
The thing I would try to impart to children is that not all of them are bad people. Not all of them will do what the terrorists did on September 11th.
I am so glad and proud to have been born in America. One big reason is the diversity in people in this country. I remember being in school and learning about what they called the "Melting Pot" that was the United States of America.
Yes, we are a melting pot but we also have people who are free to teach their children about their heritage which in many cases started somewhere other than America.
I doubt there is any one of us who can go back through our heritage and say we where always here. At some point we all came from somewhere.
Fear of other races living in this country is not the answer. I am not saying that we should totally be at ease but a certain amount of wariness is always good when meeting someone of any race. There is good and bad in all races. It makes no difference the color of your skin or where you are from, a person could still be good or evil.
Caution but not fear is what I would try to get across to children. Same as I would have always suggested. I would try to teach my child that despite what others may say he should realize that regardless of color of skin they, like us, are Americans.
This brings me to the main thing that I wanted to write about when seeking out this topic. I remember not long after the events of September 11th I saw this great commercial. I won't be ashamed to admit it made me cry tears of joy. It captured all that was in my heart and I hoped that many would watch it and feel the same as me.
It is the "I am an American" commercial. It shows many people: women, men, children of all different skin colors. Each one says "I am an American". The little child at the end waving an American flag is of Hispanic descent and yet he too is an American.
The end of this commercial had a phrase that I saw every day yet I really never stopped to know or consider it's meaning. E Pluribus Unum: Out of Many, One
We need to not be prejudiced now more than ever. We need to come together as one and realize no matter what our family history or where we came from that at the time of these events we were all Americans and it affected all of us.
I fought back tears as I wrote this out because I am still raw over the events of September 11th but also because this is something I have long believed with all my heart. I just now realized also that is has been one month today.
I think this is going to bring another point of how to help children and adults deal with this. Don't deny your grief. I have just realized that I have done that ever since the attacks. I put it down to the shock of it all. I was not prepared to face the events as reality even as I knew deep down they were.
Let your children know it is necessary to grieve, to express their feelings on this and to let no one tell them they are wrong for showing or telling how they feel. If a person doesn't grieve they cannot heal.
I realize that while I can achieve a sense of normalcy again in my day to day life ultimately there will also be something forever changed. What won't change is the fact that I am not prejudiced against any skin color or religion. I only judge based on individual actions of individual people and to me this attitude was never more important in my lifetime as it is right now.
Find those responsible but don't condemn a whole race of people because of the actions of a few.
~,,,^..^,,,~ BlackCat2
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BlackCat2
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Member: Heidi Gagne
Location: San Marcos Texas
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