Through the Eyes of a Child
By Michael Iaquinta

On the quiet morning of September 11th, terrorists unsuspectingly attacked the people of New York, Washington, DC, Pennsylvania and the nation as a whole. People were shaken to the core with disbelief that something like this could happen. The loss of life that resulted from those attacks is horrendous and the sadness that has been felt by all is inexpressible.

I would like to share a story about my 5-year-old son, Antonio, and his reactions to those attacks. I'm sharing this because I believe that Antonio is among those that are called Indigo children, Blue Ray's, etc, and which I prefer to call the new children. The last thing I want to do is place a label on my son, or any other child. But I do recognize certain characteristics in Antonio and, of course, many other children born in recent times that differ from those of us born in earlier generations. There seems to be a much stronger connection to the remembrance of their divinity, where they came from, and most prominently, the impermanence of life.

I personally have done a lot of work around my own death, and have come to a place of acceptance that death is simply an opportunity for another transition and that my soul is much larger than the death of a mortal body. The fear has been removed. In fact, I can even look forward to it, which comes from an experience that I had around my dying that has allowed me to come to that place.

Even though he is only five years old, it seems that Antonio already has that understanding. I believe that many of the new children already share this understanding, and it has been shown to me repeatedly through different things that Antonio has shared with me, things that have come completely out of the blue. He has made statements to me that have nothing to do with any teaching that has come from either his mother or myself. These statements have shown me beyond any doubt whatsoever that Antonio has a firm realization of both the impermanence of life and that life does not end at death.

While riding in my van one day, Antonio said, "Dad, you know it's not ok to fight, but it's ok to die." The "it's not ok to fight" part comes from my own teaching around living in the world from a place of peace. When I asked him about the other part of his sentence and why he had said it, he just said, "Well, dying is just a part of life." At other times, he has made comments to the effect that he is going to die someday, and then he will just come back.

I think many of the new children have this understanding and it has been such a different perspective from mine, so I have to be very careful not to project my belief structures onto them or Antonio and to give him complete freedom in his life to have that connection and allow it to be expressed. And not only to allow it, but also to support it, which takes an added measure of growth within myself to give him that space.

I recall that roughly a year ago Antonio became completely enthralled with robots. That wasn't so unusual, considering that it's just a part of a 5-year-old's exploration of life to be somewhat interested in such things.

I became concerned with his seeming obsession around the fighting and shooting and killing with the robots as his model. At that time I had no inkling that he was one of the new children. I had not done any reading on the subject of Indigo Children until, as Webmaster of this magazine, I started working with the redesign of the "Children of the New Earth Section." It was then that I picked up Lee Carroll's book, Indigo Children. I was having some struggles with Antonio around his level of activity. I could easily see how parents of the new children could mistake this activity as Attention Deficit Disorder. I had even wondered if Antonio suffered from it. As I was reading Lee Carroll's book, there were moments when I would just break down and weep, realizing how I had misunderstood his behavior. It absolutely changed my relationship with Antonio. I began to understand why he was behaving in certain ways and it allowed me give him much more freedom and support, without asking myself "What is wrong with him?" or "Why is he acting like this?" It also allowed me to give him the direction he needed, so that his expression could be more balanced or appropriate in a given situation. I believe that it is our responsibility as guardians of these little ones, to provide the structure and guidance needed to help them develop into healthy adults.

It is sometimes a challenging task to co-parent with another around these kinds of issues, especially if you aren't in agreement over potential reasons behind the manifestation of certain behaviors. I have frequently heard from his mother that I wasn't accepting of who Antonio was, and I have to admit that I usually denied that accusation. But, the truth was that I wasn't completely accepting his way of expression. After all, it is difficult to evaluate whether or not a child is manifesting normal developmental stages of behavior when the "mold" from which those stages were formed is being broken by the emergence of the new children. That is not the purpose of the book, Indigo Children, but it certainly helped me to understand my son a lot better, and in the allowing and supporting of his expression, perpetuates his self-esteem.

And now, back to the September 11th attack. When we arrived home from his school on Tuesday, the television was on, and, after settling in, I asked Antonio if he had heard anything about the attack at school. He said no. Right about that they were showing the clip of the second plane flying into Tower 2. I drew Antonio's attention to the television and showed him the scene, all the while watching his face for expression. It wasn't such a big surprise to see that there was none. To him, it was just another movie about a plane crash. So, in an attempt to put it in perspective for him, I reminded him of the size of the planes that he had seen many times at the airport. Once he understood that, I told him that some people had taken control of the plane and had crashed it into this building on purpose, killing many people, many moms and dads. He looked at me and said, "Why did they do that?" I responded in sadness by saying that there are some people in the world that just don't have very much love in their hearts. (I have intentionally tried to avoid teachings around right or wrong, good and bad, and other terms that exonerate dualism, because of my personal belief concerning that concept.) He responded with a look of sadness on his own face and simply said, "That's sad", and that was it. In the ensuing days, he began to repeat words he has since heard on television, like "evil-doers". In his innocence he now refers to the terrorists as that. I am in no way saying that this attack was not the most horrific thing I have ever witnessed in my 50 years of living, but to Antonio, it was simply a natural part of what happens in life.

Knowing my son as well as I do, I do not believe that Antonio's attitude is due solely to a lack of understanding of the reality of this event. Whitney Houston sings a wonderful song titled, "The Greatest Love of All." Here are a few of the lyrics.

"I believe the children are our future
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier
Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be"

Many of us have had the opportunity to express the emotions that have accompanied this incident, such as shock, horror and outrage, just to mention a few. But have we extended the same opportunity to our children? Given that our children are our future, could we be making a big mistake by not allowing them to speak their feelings about what happened. Isn't it time to take their views, opinions and reactions into account? Aren't they here to be our teachers as well? Please do not take these questions lightly, but take the time to go within and find the answers that will honor our children. Take the time to show your children that you respect them and care enough about them to let them have a voice, and that when they speak, you also care enough to let them be heard.

I invite you to respond and share your stories about how your children reacted to the news of that tragic day. I look forward to receiving your own stories, which, with your permission, will be published in the November issue. You just never know the impact that your story may have on another parent, or a non-parent for that matter.

Please send your stories to Mike@planetlightworker.com.

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Mike was always a curious kind of individual. As a child, he was always taking things apart, although not always able to put them back together. This turned out to be a true gift of creativity and expression of his truth in the world.

Mike spent most of his life in California, where he married three times, dispelling the myth that the third time is a charm. In 1990, on a hot, summer day, in Boulder Creek, California, he made an intentional decision to step onto the path to Higher Consciousness. Life has not been the same since. Doors and doors and more doors of opportunity have opened for Mike to explore his true nature and to come to a place of knowing his purpose in this incarnation.

As a part of expressing that purpose, Mike has been honored with the opportunity to work with Sandie Sedgebeer, Ron McCray and Steve Rother as Webmaster of PlanetLightWorker Magazine. Mike is a 2nd degree Reiki Master and an Internet Entrepreneur. He currently specializes in Web Site Design. You can email him here.