My young sons and our neighborhood boys like to play war in our backyard. They love running around with pretend guns, hiding, making popping sounds and whizzing across the yard stealthily. They are strong and powerful when they do this … and while a part of me doesn’t like the idea that my boys like to play war … it is their rite of passage, not mine. I will not tell them what they can or cannot do in all innocence — even in the face of my own discomfort with what I know is a nightmarish reality. It’s true that 9/11 happened. And it sometimes feels to me like we grownups are once again allowing our minds to slip about it … again. Good and trusting parents raising children have a way of doing that … forgetting … denying … trusting our inherent rights to pursue life, liberty and happiness as we peel the potatoes for dinner, butter the bread. But it’s possible that we have become naive again, lacking in imagination. Bad things do happen. I’m reminded of this while watching my sons play powerfully in the backyard. Their imaginations are in full bloom. They are upright and brave. They are in self-protection mode and vigilant in the face of danger. With all that’s going on in the world right now, we can’t forget as parents that we too need to be like this … for real.
