Even though I grew-up in the 70's & 80's, the changes make it feel like it was fifty years ago. We would run and play in acres of woods behind our home for hours on end, with our siblings and friends. Our only requirement was to be home in time for dinner. Your parents always told you to beware of strangers. But no one I knew had ever been approached. Sadly, my sons will never have that same freedom. When we walk through the woods, they always have my husband or myself with them.
And the way that everything is changing around the world, I don't think that they will ever experience a time when terrorism and the shadow of threats doesn't exist.
There's a song by Connie Dover, written before 9/11, that has a sad ring of truth in it about these times. It's called "The Summer Before the War", and it tells of a time of innocence shared by a few people, before they knew that the innocence would soon be gone.
I think of that song, and then I start to get angry again at those who stole that innocence from us.