What About the Children?

On this 9/11/11 many people are remembering the 3,000 souls that lost their lives 10 years ago. Although I agree it was a very traumatic experience for all, what about the children who survived?

This morning I have been making "little dresses" to send to orphan children in Africa and I have been thinking about children everywhere who suffer the loss of parents through no fault of their own. They are the lost souls of war and terrorism and their lives will be forever changed.

My personal experience goes back to my mother whose father died as the result of a war when she was 10. She grew up to be a very negative untrusting adult. Back then there was no draft, just as it is now. I wonder how many men, and today women too, give much thought to what will happen to their children if they should never return home.

My youngest grandson was 3 days old and living in New York, just 400 miles from the attack on the twin towers, when the senseless attack occurred. In their neighborhood there were daily bomb threats, causing evacuation of apartments and houses. I wonder does one so young have lingering memories of the stress his new mother was under?

The memories of little children all over the world missing limbs and disfigured by land mines and bombs are forever etched in my mind. What did they do to deserve living their young lives in such pain?

I have a different view of 9/11 than the majority of Americans do. I believe it was a universal warning to rethink what we are doing. I also believe we have not learned the lesson. We continue to tell other countries how to rule their people, yet our country is in the worst shape it has been in since my birth and that's a long time.

When are we going to stop trying to control the entire world and just stay in our own back yard? I wonder if, in my lifetime, those sitting in the seats of power will ever think about the children who will be left behind.