GO TELL MOM s2e12 American Spirit
We’re closing in on Memorial Day, which many connect with cookouts, parades and memorial wreaths for those who made the greatest sacrifice for our freedom in the Armed Forces. My dad always grilled up a feast, and Mom made her world-famous potato salad. And then we’d hit the lake or a friend’s pool and go swimming.
In my family growing up, Memorial Day was always a big deal. There was a parade in the center of my hometown, and my dad would always have us salute the troops marching by – usually reserves. My dad served in the Navy, my grandfather in the Army, and my brother in the Air Force, and his son in the Air Force Reserve. My kids’ dad was Army National Guard. We always made our kids pay respects to the troops whenever we saw them at an event.
It wasn’t hard to remind them of how much our troops put themselves at risk, after growing up in the shade of 9-11. When they were very young, they saw TV clips of planes crashing into skyscrapers. My then five-year-old came home with a picture he’d drawn of one of those planes, with a comment from his teacher, gently suggesting he see a little less television that week.
We stopped watching television for a week after that, and when we hopped back on, we were watching Disney Channel. Their father and I realized how saturated our children were becoming with the replay of the horror of that day.
Nearly a decade later, many Americans were glued to the television the night reports were out that the mastermind of the 9-11 attacks was actually dead. There was much rejoicing when it was confirmed…along with some trepidation.
As I drove my then-thirteen-year-old to school on Monday, I explained to her about the announcement of Osama bin Laden’s death. I figured she’d be inundated with the news in class. I also asked her to say a prayer for her cousin, who was stationed in a dangerous location overseas.
Already there were reports of the American government preparing for retaliatory attacks, and my godson was in a prime location.
So, apparently, was my neighbor, who I drove to school every morning. She was in the JROTC program at her high school, and they no longer drilled outside, or wore their uniforms. They’d been warned that the Taliban was targeting them.
Of course they would be. Why would you target the folks who are actually trained to fight you, when you can pick on those with the least amount of training to make your point?
Bullies always pick on those weaker than themselves. So do cowards. They try to incite fear.
My daughter’s first reaction to the potential danger to her cousin was to get choked up. She wiped the tears from her eyes as she said, “I didn’t realize he was there.”
I confirmed he was, and told her we had to pray, and believe he’d be okay. Our government would be looking out for him.
She swallowed back her tears, nodded firmly, and glanced over at me. “Can we make some cookies for him?”
That’s the American spirit, starting at an early age.
MilitaryFamilyLife.com suggests you talk to kids about ways to honor veterans. Read the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. Talk about why the writers decided to write what they did. Let your children pretend they are staring their own country and create their own framework of rights and responsibilities.
To be patriotic, kids must know as much as they can about their country, according to InformedFamilies.org. In general, patriotism is defined as a love for or devotion to one’s country. It is often mistaken for nationalism or the feeling that one’s nation is superior to all others. But patriotism really is a feeling of pride in what the country stands for, what it has accomplished, and what it is still hoping to do, both for its citizens and for the rest of the world. It can also mean defending your country and its ideals from external, physical, threats.
It’s always a gamble when you show kids something tough, something disturbing, but something you think they need to know. It’s a little easier to do it at an age where they understand the difference between defending yourself and picking on someone.