To my son, You are only 3 months old, so you don't realize what happened yesterday. Your "world" was still the same: Mommy was gone to work before you woke up, but Daddy fed you w/ the milk Mommy left in the fridge. He changed your diapers (over & over), changed your clothes (drooled on, or worse), talked to you, maybe sang, washed a few loads of clothes, watches some TV....if he wasn't laughing w/ you, you didn't notice. You didn't care that Mommy didn't play w/ you as much as normal, when she came home to nurse you on her lunch hour, that she held you just a little tighter & a little longer before going back to work. You probably noticed that when Mommy came back again, Daddy didn't go away like normal, but you just enjoyed that Daddy didn't have to "work" today. Your world was still the same.
So today I will make you this promise....
When you are older I will teach you about what happened yesterday. I will save the newspaper for you to read & let you watch the video your Dad made from the news reports. I will try to explain to you how God can let something so awful happen & how people can be so evil. I will try to explain how some people in the world will hate you, simply you are *fill in the blank - it doesn't matter what exactly you are or do, someone will hate you for it,* but that we should not judge others that way. I will teach you to be an American. I will teach you believe in this country, we may be wrong (& probably often are), but we try to do are best. We do not hide our faults, forbiding our citizens to disagree w/ the government, pretending to the world that we are perfect. We admit our problems, we discuss them at work, at school, on the internet, & the evening news. I will teach you to read the papers & watch the news so you can discuss our country intelligently.
I will teach you to stand still w/ you hand over your heart & sing proudly "The Star Spangled Banner" at sporting events. I will teach you respect for our flag & fly it on our house for all to see. I will teach you to repsect the men & women who are willing to put themselves & their families second, who risk their lives to protect the rest of us & I will teach to encourage the government leaders to increase the salaries of these brave people - firemen, police, rescue medical & the military don't do what they do for the money, but it is one way we can try to thank them.
I will teach you to give to your community. You will not understand yet, but you are going w/ me when I give blood on Saturday. Hopefully you will be a good baby & I can spend a couple hours helping answer the blood bank's phones. There is always a way to help, with your time, money or thinking of other ways. I will encourage you to give blood, sign an organ donor card, & get listed on the bone-marrow registry. I will teach you first-aid/CPR.
Your father & I named you after a man we both believe was the greatest general in the American Civil War. I will teach you that you should respect life (even in war) & try to avoid hurting innocents, but that sometimes war is necessary....a short period of ugliness for the greater good, & that if you choose to serve in the military (like your daddy & I did) that you behavor honorablely in whatever situation you find yourself.
I promise you that Mommy will do everything in her power to help you grow up to be a strong, kind, intelligent man. I pray that when you are older, you can help fight the evil we humans sometimes unlease upon ourselves. Not quite a year ago, I started crying as soon as I realize that I was pregnant, not because I had any doubts of having a baby, but I because I realized that you were a gift from God. Nothing I have every done, or ever will do is as important as helping you to become a person who will make the world a better place.
Horrifying Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.
This is not game news, but is more important. I am putting this up here because many people are trying to figure out what is going on and this way we can share what we know. Here's what I know so far:
- At about 8:45 a plane crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers. 14 minutes later, andther plane crashed into the second tower.
- Another plane crashed into the Pentagon soon after that.
- A bomb went off at the State Department.
- Both World Trade Center Towers have now completely collapsed, presumably killing everyone who was unable to evacuate in time, and also the firemen and police who were at the towers trying to help people evacuate.
- Another plane has gone down somewhere in Western Pennsylvania. Possibly just a coincidence or possibly an attempt to hyjack it to another target.
Words cannot express the horror.