I want share a conversation between a 3 year old boy and his father in Paris the day after the Bataclan attack. I love the way the father speaks with his son.
His words do not undo the damage and the pain; nothing does. Families have lost sons, daughters, brothers and sisters. They are in pain. Their pain is real. Our pain is real.
It is how we choose to respond to the pain that is important.
A Conversation about Paris:
Son: “We have to move home Daddy”
Father: “Don’t worry, We don’t have to change house. France is our home”
Son: “But there’s bad guys Daddy”
Father: “Yes, but there are bad guys everywhere. There are mean people everywhere.”
Son: “They have guns. They can shoot us. They are really, really mean Daddy.”
Father: “They have guns, we have flowers”
Son: “But flowers don’t do anything.”
Father: “Of course they do… look… everyone is putting flowers. Its to fight against guns.”
Son: “It can protect?”
Father: “Yes.”
Son: “And candles? can they protect?”
Father: “Yes. Its to remember the people who are gone yesterday.”
Son: “The flowers and the candles are here to protect us?”
Father: “Yes.”
See the conversation:
About the Paris Attacks: