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'The bad guys took over the airplane': Preschool patriots reflect on 9-11 in Destin (UPDATED with PHOTOS and VIDEO)
They weren’t born until after the day “we will never forget,” but Destin’s littlest patriots have a pretty good idea of what 9/11 is all about.
“Three hundred and forty-three (firemen) died because buildings fell on them and bad guys took over the airplane and they crashed the building,” said 4-year-old Aiden Sarazin. “They didn’t like Jesus and God.”
On Friday morning at Destin Christian Academy, Belinda Bishop and Shirley May’s pre-kindergarten class scrambled over one another like ants to place red, white and blue plastic cups through the chain link fence around the school’s soccer field to form an American flag. Click here for more photos.
Knowing they would be “building” a flag that morning, little 3-year-old Carter McIlwain wanted to wear his tool belt to school. He found that wasn’t at all necessary with the help of his classmates and his teacher mom, Mrs. Shirley.
Aside from learning about the significance of 9/11 through the group effort, the tots pledged their creation when they were finished, sang “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee,” and topped it off with “The Lord’s Prayer.”
“We’re talking to them about what happened,” Bishop said. “We’re teaching them to show respect for our flag and God and our country.”
To read about a Destin bagpiper who plays the pipes at City Hall every 9-11, click here.
