The gummy smile of the late eight year old Martin Richard is imprinted on my mind as the face of tragedy that the events of the Boston Marathon put into motion on Monday. My eight year old boy is missing all his top teeth too. Three in a row. I have been very conscious of this moment in time – a second really – that passes as a smile fills in and they start to look less like juvenile vampires and more like big boys. This moment when they can understand many grown-up things but they aren’t entirely sure whether a fairy collects their teeth in the night, if they might be magical and their Hogwarts letter is on its way, or if Mount Olympus is presently located on the 600th floor of the Empire State Building. They believe in possibility. They believe in us. They wrongly believe that we can keep them safe.
Having a child with Diabetes, some part of me is thinking about my children's safety all day, every day. But lately there have been so many high profile tragic incidents that have caught my and my children's attention that it's become a topic for discussion. In particular, that I can't guarantee that bad things won't happen.
Are you telling me that villians are real?This ongoing conversation began in earnest two years ago, when Osama Bin Laden was captured and killed Sam and Talia quickly picked up on the buzz of conversation around them. They wanted to know why people were happy that someone had been killed. I decided to be honest with them even though they were only four and six at the time. As New Yorkers, they frequently walk by the huge construction site where the Twin Towers stood, and where the new One World Trade Center is rising. It is a part of the legacy they will grow up with. They were quite taken with superheroes at the time and I explained that Osama Bin Laden was a villain behind a terrible attack on the buildings that caused them to collapse. Sam asked, “Did anyone die?” and when I responded, “yes” he asked me, “how many people?” “Three thousand” I said and waited for their response. He shook his head in understanding. Talia, after a few minutes looked at me incredulous and said, “Are you telling me that VILLIANS are REAL?” Yes, sadly I am. They are real and even when they die more arrive to take their place.
It gives me hope that the possibility that human beings can be bad continues to be a leap of the imagination for my child (a lucky child to be fair).
