10 years ago today ...

Someday we'll talk to you about what happened -
10 years ago,
today.
You'll probably ask
if we can
remember
where we were on that
sunny morning -
and like so many other
young adults,
who experienced their
first
life altering national tragedy -
the kind that stops you
dead in your tracks,
that slows the universe down
to a quiet lull,
that burns itself so deeply
into your memory -
that like a scar you can
run your finger along it -
and remember the exact
moment of the pain inflicting itself upon you-
we will say yes.
Like so many others,

that bare that same scar

from that same day.
We we tell you about the day
some bad men decided to
make the choice
to hurt people for their beliefs.
They wanted to hurt people
so badly
that they took over some planes,
and crashed them into buildings,
killing and hurting
thousands of people.
That against mommy and daddy's wishes,
our nation went to war
to right a wrong -
forgetting that sometimes,
you just end up with two
wrongs.
And that even though we don't agree
with all the choices the people
in our government have made since
that day,
we still support the men and women
who gave their lives -
for what they believed in.
That for every thousand
that died that day,
a thousand more have
died and suffered in their place.

Here and there.

I'll tell you about how I hope it never

will happen

again,

but that I can't make that guarantee.

That if I could bubble wrap your world,

I would in a heart beat.

Until you were an old man.

But I can't.

And that it just means as people,

we still

have a whole lot of hard work to do.
I'll tell you one day,
about how I was terrified to bring
a child
into a world so full of uncertainty
and hatred, and misunderstanding.
And about how the day I laid
my eyes on you,
I felt an extreme sense of
hope -
for your future.
For your generation to be the one that will
overcome.
That will make a change.
That will make a difference.
That will ensure the mistakes
of my parents generations,
and my own generation,
never happen again.
I will tell you how,
since that day,
I have felt a great responsibility to harbor
understanding,
and compassion.
To practice tolerance
and forgiveness
in the place of
hate and fear.
Things that at their best,
will only ever bring out the worse.
I will tell you about how,

in order to ensure you will

carry those things along with

you in your life,

the things that in the darkest of times,

can shine a ray of light,

it is our responsibility to live and breathe

them by example.

And that your Daddy and I will tell you how,

that is the way we remember.

That is how we have chose to live and honor

since that day.

That we choose to raise you,

in hope.

In love.

In compassion.

In forgiveness.

With an awareness and understanding

of others. Of cultures. Of religions.

To be a person of the world,

and not just a person in your world.

Because son, this place is anything

but flat.

To be the kind of people that see

beauty in difference,

in diversity.

To be the kind of people

that see the best, in the worst

But luckily -

today

is not that day.

Today we remembered

by loving on you

a little bit harder,

protecting your innocence a little bit longer,

and acknowledging a small moment of peace

for those gone 10 years too long.

And believing that

a whole lot of good

still exists in this world

for you.