Why History

Today as part of Braeden and Emma's history lesson, I posed the question,

Why do we study history anyway?

Emma was sullen from Too Much Math and said, "I don't know."

Braeden said, "Well it's really really interesting."

Emma (still sullen) said, "Not to me," and glared.

I talked about learning lessons and not repeating them and understanding situations better if you know the history.

Then, as is my custom on this day, I pulled out my book, A Nation Challenged. It's a book, mostly pictures, designed for children, about today, September 11.

I sat my three down and warned them that I'd cry and Braeden patted my hand and said he knew.

We went through the book and I told the story. I left out a lot of details and skipped over several pages because I want to shield my children from the bulk of the shattering specifics as much as I can and for as long as I can.

I cried though. And they looked at me carefully, never completely sure how to proceed when facing my tears. Braeden's the most sure footed with emotion though and he took over for me when my voice broke. He showed Mark the picture of the Pentagon and explained it to him. He finished telling about the heroes in a field in Pennsylvania when I couldn't continue.

And then I told them that the terrorists wanted to ruin our country.

They wanted to make us afraid.

And have they?

Three solemn pairs of brown eyes looked at me and Mark said, "No. We're not afraid."

And that's why we study history.