Food for thought

Usually the weekday morning conversation between Cameron and I consists of "Did you brush your teeth yet?" "Where are your shoes?" "We need to leave here in 10 minutes .." etc. This morning, however, was slightly different. I'm not sure how many of you have ever had to explain suicide bombers or Allah to a 7-year old, but it is quite challenging. A few news briefs came on before we left, one of which was about the two female suicide bombers in Baghdad this morning. Cam comes upstairs while I'm getting dressed and tells me "Mom ... two ladies had bombs strapped to them, and then blew them up in a place where there were lots of people. There were like a 100 people killed because of them. Why would someone do that?" The million dollar question. If I had a logical answer to that, I certainly wouldn't be in a criminal justice program - I'd be running it. So then we get on the subject of the Muslim religion, who Allah is, why these people are supposedly viewed as "heroes", etc. His next remark is "Mom ... do they really think they're going to get into heaven by killing other people?" Bingo. Proud moment. Fight some tears, give him a hug and kiss, and move on to the next important question of the morning: Apple or banana in your lunch?