What can be said? What words can adequately speak to the horrific events that unfolded on the morning of September 11, 2001?

We’ve heard the voices of local and world leaders, stunned survivors, and mourning victims. All of these voices have helped us begin to heal, but there truly are no words that can ever allow us to comprehend the incomprehensible.

As all of you know, the focus here at Gigglemoose is on children (spurred by a personal focus on our own children). So one of our obvious concerns after this disaster is: if adults can’t fully understand how and why these events have occurred, how are they supposed to make children understand?

There is no easy answer to this question, but we're reprinting a helpful article written by Mary W. Temke, Ph.D. Extension Specialist, Human Development, UNH Cooperative Extension. Click here to read "What Do I Say to My Children?" You can also click here to read First Lady Laura Bush's letter to children about the tragic events.

My personal reactions were probably similar to yours. After the initial numbing shock of the sheer devastation and loss of life, fear began to creep into my heart. What was coming next? Are any of us safe? Will they target the nuclear power plant nearby? What will tomorrow bring?

Just the day before, I was listening to the annual enthusiastic stories about the Monarch butterfly caterpillars that my kids were studying in their classrooms. And now the very next morning I was gripped by extreme paranoia wondering whether these kids would even see another day, never mind the hatching of the Monarchs.

In time, of course, the overriding paranoia ebbed away, replaced by another uncontrollable reaction. The emotions have come in unexpected waves, haven’t they? Shock, fear, sorrow, frustration, anger.

Yet still, the first topic of discussion around the dinner table is the status of the Monarch butterflies inside their unmoving cocoons. And that, to me, provides an important lesson in all of this. Beyond the obvious symbolism of renewed life that the chrysalises represent, the innocence of youth offers welcome relief. So turn off the distressing television news for a while and spend some time with family. Turn your attention to a child. Play a game with your kids; visit your nieces, nephews, and grandchildren; volunteer to read in a classroom; spend an extra few minutes listening to what your students have to say. Children take each day as it comes. All of us must remember to do the same right now. Life must go on . . . for their sake as well as ours.

Let us continue to mourn the lives that were taken, as well as the surviving lives that have been forever changed by these painful losses. Let us lend a helping hand however we can, and thank the brave men and women who risk life itself to assist those in need. Let us pray for our world, and never forget what has happened. Let us take preventive action, and never lose our longing for peace. But let us also begin to move on. Let us greet each morning as the gift of a new day.

Right now we need to focus on the rare positives that have risen from the ashes of such devastating catastrophe. One such positive thread is unity. In a country that had seemed to turn on itself lately---marked by workplace shootings, school massacres, and home-bred terrorism---Americans have suddenly come together. No boundary seems too great a hurdle as people from coast to coast rally around Old Glory; not politics, not age, not race, not religion. In fact, this unity has spread over most of the civilized world. Let it now be our mission to seek out all positive threads such as this and weave them together into a tapestry of love, hope, and peace that will unify the human race like never before.

John W. Schlim Jr.
September 20, 2001

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