what do we tell him

As the anniversary of 9/11 drawers near, the images and stories of that day are resurfacing.  We are being reminded, as if any of us will ever forgot, of the day that has become the "where we you when..." event for our generation.  Older generations have the assassination of JFK and the first man walking on the moon.  My generation has the Challenger explosion and Sept 11, 2001.  I remember being in 2nd  grade and at school on the day of the Challenger disaster but for 9/11, I remember many more details.

Allen and I kept and filed Time, Life, People, any magazines we could find with photos of that day.  My love for photography had not even begun to bud back then but even without that appreciation, I could feel the profound effect of those photographs on generations to come.

Fast forward nearly 10 years and photography is a huge part of my life.  I recently received a gift subscription to American Photo.  The edition that arrived yesterday chronicles Sept 11, 2001 as seen through the eyes of several photographers in New York City.  It contains images they each shot in response to the terrorist attacks and also interviews each photographer. My oldest son, A, found that magazine this morning and I caught him completely enthralled in the photos.  He can not yet read the stories well enough to really understand but the photos themselves tell the story.

In the moment that I saw him looking at these photos--everything from the planes flying into the World Trade Center to a severed hand lying on the ground--it hit me.  How do I explain that to him?  He's only 6.  We are still trying to shelter him from "real life", from dislike and people who are not nice.  How do I explain THAT--the ultimate form of hate and revenge on innocent people?  The consequences of that day will forever be a part of his life, but how do I really explain to him what happened,why, and what it means to be part of the "where were you when?"