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It occurred to me that the Princess doesn’t have any understanding of 9-11 or why we hold this day in our nation as one of rememberance. As she asked questions that I couldn’t answer. She wanted to know about the towers, the planes, the terrorists. She had so very many questions that I still don’t know how to answer. And then, she asked one final question, a question that touched my soul and resounds in my heart still. She asked, “Why do they hate us so much?”

How am I supposed to answer that? How can I explain something that I don’t understand myself? How can we as a nation think that we have the answers to this question?

It is nearly unfathomable to me to think that this event will be recorded in history books for her in the same way that the Great Depression is for me. The stories will all be told and the events recounted, but the emotion that I feel remembering that day will forever be lost on her.

As our nation still grieves 10 years later and the wounds still gape open, I wonder if we can ever get back to the unity that resulted from the tragedy on 9-11-01? Our politicians are more divided than ever, the citizens of my great nation are lost and wondering and we all look for hope and for answers to the questions my daughter asks.

I’ve done my best to answer her questions and provide her with a vague understanding of the events. I wish only that I  understood better myself.

How are you explaining the events to children who weren’t alive in September 2001?