Foster Care, Adoption, and Saying Yes to the Unknown
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We recently found one of our daughters crying in bed. She had seemed fine the last we had seen her before going upstairs, so this took us a bit off guard. In a home with four daughters there always seems to be something to cry about, but when she calmed down enough to share with us what it was this time, we were shocked. Hitler. That’s right, HITLER was on her mind, and apparently had been for the past several weeks. What?! She told us that her class was doing a research project at school and that each student could select any topic they wanted to learn more about. She didn’t choose butterflies or dolphins or dandelions or the North Pole. She chose, of all possible topics, Hitler, and had been haunted by the things she has learned ever since— justifiably so—and afraid that bad things like that might happen to her—understandably so. “My mind can’t stop thinking about it,” she confessed. Having carried this burden alone for so long, she finally broke that night in bed. Is she one day going to learn about these horrific events of the past? Yes, this detail will inevitably become a part of her education. Should she? Probably—it’s important for her to understand that part of our history. But not right now. Not yet. No nine-year-old can comprehend these things. No nine-year-old should have to. (We arranged to have the research topic changed!) 21
