I wish I had sat down on Monday morning to write this post because I'm sure, despite my feverish note taking, I have missed something but here goes...
I woke Monday morning to the news of Osama bin Laden's death. Before I could fully wrap my mind around the whole thing, Caroline was awake. I knew it was important to discuss the issues with her before sending her off into the world. My main goal was for Caroline to understand why people were celebrating death. As I stumbled through an explanation of which I was still and am still unsure, she took over.
A few quotes...
In response to my feeble attempt to justify bin Laden's death with the extent of his evil:
Caroline: "Was he worse than slavery? Because Martin Luther King didn't kill all the white people?" As I continued to talk about how there are certain men, that are just pure evil, "Like Hitler." I said.
Caroline: "Is it only men that are evil?"After a long break in the conversation, during which time Caroline was clearly thinking about September 11th:
Caroline: "Why didn't they attack the white house?"After I tried to explain what happened to the brave Americans on the flight that crashed in Pennsylvania:
Caroline: "So they sacrificed their lives so people wouldn't be worried about the White House?"And then a refreshing reminder that Caroline is, in fact, still a seven year old little girl:
Caroline: "Why didn't they attack Yankee Stadium? Oh, I guess because they figured they could just play in another stadium because there are so many of them."