Today we visited the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. Inevitably this prompted a days worth of questions about war from our inquisitive four year old. “War”, a word that
wasn’t in his vocabulary until today. Te
nderly, we attempted to describe the fractured relationship between Japan and the US in the 1940’s. We emphasized it was a long, long time ago, when his Grandpa John was a small boy. At which he asked “
were there dinosaurs?”.
Roo surprised us both as he attentively watched the fifteen minute film describing the attack which fortunately,
wasn’t gruesome. We talked a lot about the friendship of today between Japan and the United States. We were careful not to overuse the word “enemy” but rather emphasized “disagreement” and that war is best avoided
because people get hurt and things get destroyed. Over and over he asked
“is war real, is there war, now?”. Sadly we explained “yes” at which he commented “
let’s never ever go to a place where war is!”. And on this Christmas Eve, a day symbolic of hope and redemption, I solemnly pray that my son, in his lifetime, never experiences war.
Today we visited the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. Inevitably this prompted a days worth of questions about war from our inquisitive four year old. “War”, a word that wasn’t in his vocabulary until today. Te
nderly, we attempted to describe the fractured relationship between Japan and the US in the 1940’s. We emphasized it was a long, long time ago, when his Grandpa John was a small boy. At which he asked “were there dinosaurs?”. Roo surprised us both as he attentively watched the fifteen minute film describing the attack which fortunately, wasn’t gruesome. We talked a lot about the friendship of today between Japan and the United States. We were careful not to overuse the word “enemy” but rather emphasized “disagreement” and that war is best avoided because people get hurt and things get destroyed. Over and over he asked “is war real, is there war, now?”. Sadly we explained “yes” at which he commented “let’s never ever go to a place where war is!”. And on this Christmas Eve, a day symbolic of hope and redemption, I solemnly pray that my son, in his lifetime, never experiences war.
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