||Such is Life?|| - Desensitization of Our Younger Generations...

So - I picked up my little eight year-old sister from NY this past weekend. That consisted of me flying to LaGuardia from Fort Lauderdale, picking her up at the terminal, waiting for two hours - then flying back to Fort Lauderdale. I don't mind this at all, this is a ritual for us at holiday time - but I've been a bit aprehensive when it comes to flying lately. Most people who know me -

{{Tangent - My laptop screen just threw up on itself in a rainbow of lines and colors - time for a new computer.}}

Most people who know me know that I'm used to flying a lot. Up to last year, I was flying to NY every few weeks for my fam. Half of my life is still up north, and I get homesick quickly. With the recent flight accidents, though, I find myself very sensitive to turbulance and bad weather. Very unlike me.

The flight to NY was very smooth, but the flight back was a bit bumpy at times. We found ourselves reaching for each other, with passengers shrieking loudly during these events. I have to be the big sister and look calm, but sometimes I'm shaking inside. I know it's only clouds, but sometimes I wonder what goes wrong when other planes crash. I can't help it.

Anyway - yesterday at breakfast, my sister struck up a conversation with me about planes. I noticed that during the flight, she was intently reading the emergency instruction booklet. She looked at me yesterday and asked what would happen if the plane crashed in water. I told her we'd put on our vests and swim to safety. She asked what if a Mom had a baby - would she put on her vest and swim with the baby? I scratched my head - but I told her yes. Then, she said -
"What if there's a fire?"
I told her there are fire extinguishers inside the plane, and the flight crew would put out the fire.
"No - what if the fire's on the wing?"
::Silence::
What do I say to her? Do I lie? Do I make up some gadget that they send outside the plane and put the fire out? Eventually I told her that if the fire's on the wing, the wind should put the fire out. But I can't lie - I was nervous.

Later on in the day, Maury was on. And yes, I know - I really shouldn't have her watching this. She was asleep, and I was making breakfast. I totally didn't realize she was sitting there watching. So, she asks me -
"Kim, what does it mean to cheat?"
I tried to formulate an answer as quickly as I could, but before I could respond, she said -
"Does it mean to lie?" I told her yes.
" Like, when he told her he was going to get cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving, and he didn't come back til 12:00 at night?" - Yes.

Let me remind you that she's deaf. So, sometimes I know that things fly over her head when she's watching tv or not paying great attention to conversations, because her Cochlear doesn't always pick up every single sound. But lately, she's been as sharp as a tack. Not only was she reading the subtitles, she was listening to the woman talk about what her boyfriend was doing behind her back.

I feel some kind of way about this - because she's only eight years-old. I'm never too sure what her Mom's teaching her in NY, but I try to instill good values and proper information into her brain and life. What do I do with this? I can only tell her the truth - but it's getting harder and harder to word these things in a way that's not harsh, or too adult - you know?

Nowadays I feel like adults tend to be lax when it comes to sheilding children from certain parts of the world. At eight years-old, I wasn't thinking about death, or cheating lovers. I was thinking about school crushes, and reading fiction books, and buying Tamagochis and GigaPets. I was playing in the park with my friends - not worrying about pediophiles and kidnappers (Not that they didn't exist, but jeeze - they're everywhere now!) I'll be driving somewhere, and hear Plies or Jeezy blaring in a car, look over - and see children no older than seven in the back seat. We went to Zoe's Summer Groove (Alonzo Mourning's All Star Basketball Festival) and on the Megatron was a little boy, about five years-old - singing all the words to Weezy's Every Girl.

Seriously?

When did our children become teenagers, and our teens become adults? When did life become so straightforward? When did we start deciding that kids should be told that Santa's not real - and when did the tooth fairy get laid off? I feel like this recession/depression has fired all our youth. We've downsized on childhoods, and capitalized on the ease that adulthood brings. It's more convenient to have kids behave like adults - babysitting siblings, cooking dinner. I saw a boy around nine carrying groceries home in Fort Lauderdale the other day. It's a shame. I feel bad saying that I'm confused on what to do - but I'm proud of the fact that I won't let my siblings' childhoods slip away. I won't take that from them. It's one of the few freedoms we have nowadays, and I won'd deprive them of it.
I just need help figuring how to keep it here.