I have two daughters - ages almost 10 and 7 1/2 - who went to bed tonight without knowing about 9/11. Just like we all did six years ago.
And when we woke up, the world had changed. We had changed.
My daughters are going to wake up this morning and plan to go ahead with their usual routine. Getting dressed. Making sure they have their homework in their backpacks. Eating breakfast. Playing with their little twin brothers...
... and learning that terrorists attacked America.
If we had a choice to wake up on September 11, 2001 and not see the news would we grasp at those last hours of innocence?
I remember where I was when I learned of the attack in Oklahoma City. I was in a hotel in Montana and it was about 10PM. My wife and I were in the midst of a lengthy cross-country road trip, of which radio had been replaced by one of many mix-tapes that we had recorded for the journey. We spent the day enjoying our road trip, oblivious to the pain and suffering not just of the people of Oklahoma City but of the country as a whole. It was a pain that had occured early that morning and we had avoided it for the entire day. We made our penance by visiting the Murrah Building a couple of weeks later. The same thing happened with the news of Katrina... another city, another road trip (this time we hadn't heard the news until we plopped into our Moab, Utah motel room late that night.)
For the last six years, I've taken my kids into tall buildings and onto airplanes. They've enjoyed the experiences without the gnawing fear that we adults have in the back of our minds. "Daddy, why do we have to take off our shoes?" is a question that we just dodged when we went through airports.
But on September 11, 2007... that changes for two little girls.
It will be a if America is being attacked for the first time.
And, for my daughters, it is.
On September 11, 2007, my daughters will have lost a piece of their innocence. Like we all did, six years ago.
To answer tne question that many people might have is - why didn't you tell them sooner?
There's a good reason that I'll get to in a moment.
My kids are pretty hip to what happens in the real world. My almost 10-year-old is becoming a vocal supporter of Obama because she and I watched Obama's announcement speech at the start of this year. Having had just recently learned about Rosa Parks and MLK Jr (and his assassination), she was instantly attracted to the notion that this African-American man could be president. I say good for her. They also know that there's a war going on in Iraq and have a general sense of why it should end. Because I'm a bit of a news junkie, they hear all sorts of things on TV - some which I would prefer they didn't hear. She also has some choice words for Dubya!
But my wife and I have managed to keep 9/11 away from them.
My older daughter was almost 4 when America was attacked six years ago. Telling her about 9/11 was pointless. We were careful to keep her out of the room when we were watching the days events unfold... not just to protect her from the images on TV but to keep her from seeing her parents' as emotional wrecks.
By the time my older daughter was seven, her best friend has hit by a car and killed. The little girl was walking out of school and holding her dad's hand when the accident happened. Suddenly it was not possible to convince my daughters that we could keep them safe. When a kid dies unexpectedly while holding their dad's hand, all bets are off. Anything could happen. And I couldn't tell them that it couldn't it. Over the next few months, my daughters experienced the sudden death of their grandmother, the near death of their grandfather, the death of two cats, and the death of a schoolmate who went to bed with a stomach-ache and never woke up.
So... I was in no hurry to further erode what few remnants of innocence my kids had.
But, as life has a way of turning optomistic when you least expect it to, innocence returned to my family's life with the birth of twin boys. And all was right with the world again.
But now 9/11 approaches again. For the sixth time. And for the first time.
And it's time for me to tell my daughters what happened in New York City and in Washington DC and in Pennsylvania six years ago this morning. Because I can't keep it from them anymore. There are too many external forces - namely a class full of fifth graders. And it's better that it comes fro me than from her teacher.
If I could go another year of letting my kids live in an America where 9/11 hadn't happned yet, I would. That would be a great gift. A gift of one more year of innocence for my daughters.
But the time has come.
And 9/11 will claim the innocence of two more people this morning.