A lesson in humanity

Today my sister and I went to see World Trade Center. I don't know if I was ready to see it yet, but we went anyway. WE took the babies with us - Scout immediately fell asleep in my arms. I couldn't be more thankful that he wants to snuggle with me. As I watched the movie I cradled my son and inside I began to question why we decided to bring a baby into this world. Why would we bring a perfect child into a life with so much hatred and violence. I just wept watching the movie. It brought back so many memories. My dad says he can remember where he was and what he was doing when he heard that JFK had been shot. Well I can remember everything about September 11th.
I worked in Dallas at the Galleria so I was on my way to work. I was listening to Kidd Kraddick in the Morning when they said a plane had hit the first tower. I remember thinking what idiot was flying that plane. I got out of my car and got into the store where the stocking crew was huddled around the radio. I continued with the opening of the store until one of the girls on stock crew came and told me a second plane had hit another tower. I was in shock. I honestly didn't know what to do. I opened the doors to the store and tried to keep an ear on the radio. Our very first customer came in and was talking very loudly on her cell phone. I will never in all my life forget what she said, "I don't care if there is a plane that flew into the World Trade Center. You get a hold of someone I am closing on my house in Florida today." I wonder if she ever regrets saying, or if she even remembers saying that. We worked until a little after 11 when we got the call from Corporate that all of our employees in NYC were accounted for and that we needed to close the store and go home for the day. I drove home past DFW airport and for the first time there was not a plane in sight. There was so much more that happened that day but I was glued to the TV, I couldn't take my eyes off of it. I wanted more information I needed to know and to see what was going on. I remember crying myself to sleep. I don't know if I cried for the people who had died or if I cried for the loss of naivete of our nation. Things would never be the same. It just seemed like such a loss of innocence. I would never look at anyone on a plane with me the same again. I am suspicious of everyone. Its not who I want to be, but it is what we have been forced into.
All of this came flooding back as we watched the movie. I watched my son sleeping peacefully through the whole thing and I wondered what his JFK moment would be and would he tell his kids about it. What will happen in his lifetime that will be so overwhelming that he would question if he and his wife should have kids or not. Golda Meir once said, "Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us. " When will that day come? How can they not look at their babies like I look at mine and not want a better life for them? How can they not want them to grow up and love people rather than be filled with hatred? It is beyond me. I look at my son and I see what could be a better world.
The contrast of his innocent face against the picture of the smoldering towers in the background will be forever etched in my memory. Somewhere 19 mothers had done the same thing at some point - looked at their sons and saw the most beautifully innocent face. How could they have known what their sons would do? I look at his face and I know that my son will grow up in a family, and surrounded by friends who love him and who love God. I don't worry about Scout or what he will become. He is God's child on loan to us and it is in His hands.