G/T Adventures

Lessons of History

This short touches on the issues of 9/11. If you feel like you don't want to read, I will not be offended.

"I don't get it." Eight-year-old Jackie muttered as she peered at the newspaper article her mother was reading, her little body sitting neatly on her shoulder. "If it happened that long ago, why do people still care?"

Clarice set down the newspaper, her hand gently taking her daughter and moving her into her palm. She didn't get angry, she didn't snap at how rude saying something like that was. Instead, she offered a gentle smile and slowly began to explain. "A long time ago, some very bad took control of planes with a lot of people inside those planes. A lot of people that the bad ones knew would get hurt."

"If they knew they would get hurt, why would they do it?" Jackie got herself situated in her mother's palm, her green eyes peering up with both curiosity and confusion. Why would someone want to hurt people? It didn't make sense to her.

Hesitating and choosing her words carefully, the young woman spoke slowly. "Some people just aren't very nice and think that they can tear families apart for the fun of it. Now, these planes were used to crash into three very important buildings in Washington D.C. Remember that place? You learned about that in one of your books."

Jackie nodded her head with a wide smile. "Yeah! That's where the President lives, right? In that big, fancy house?"

"That's right. The planes hurt and killed a lot of people. Men, women, even little girls, and boys." Clarice watched the smile on her little girls face fade but she knew this had to be explained. Even if her daughter was a little kid, there were still people that would take way too much offense to her innocence and misunderstanding. "Two very tall towers stood in Washington once. The World Trade Center is what they were called."

Lowering her head, Jackie listened in silence while trying to process what her mother was telling her. People purposefully killed kids? Hurt mommies and daddies?

"Well. It's important because of the lives lost. Because that even caused so much shock an heartbreak in not only states but in other parts of the world. It is known as one of the worst days in the U.S.'s history."

"We remember the firefighters that saved people's lives from the collapsing towers. We remember the mother's and father's that didn't get to go home to their families. Their children. And we remember how it didn't bring down our country but it made us stronger. It showed that we can come back from something like that, and we can rise up from that kind of grief."

Clarice looked down at her daughter, using one of her fingers to gently stroke the little blonde curls on her head. "It's very, very sad, yes, but we still care about it because of all of what I said. Do you understand, flower?" 

"Yes, mommy. I understand. I'm glad that you didn't get hurt because then you wouldn't have been able to take care of me!" Jackie's arms wrapped tightly around her mother's closest finger, burying her face into the warmth.

Clarice took a deep breath through her nose but didn't speak, and out of her daughter's vision, she looked at a wedding photo hanging on the wall in the back of the room. She looked at the groom's smiling face, his arms wrapped around his bride. 

A sad smile crept on her lips and she looked back to the little girl in her hand. 'He would have loved you.' She thought briefly, taking several more deep breaths and leaned back in her chair.

Slowly she stood, lowering her hand so her daughter could wait patiently on the kitchen table.

"I'll go make breakfast."

"Can I read that article?" Jackie asked softly, looking at the paper in her mom's hand with a curious smile.

Looking at the paper, she knew it wasn't too descriptive and spoke of mostly what she had already told her. Setting the paper down Clarice nodded. 

"Of course you can sweetie."