When my father, Odysseus, and his men sailed off to the Trojan War, they were confident their gods favored a quick victory. Instead, the siege of Troy lasted ten years. After Troy fell, the survivors made their way home to Sparta, Mycenae, Pylos, and elsewhere in the ancient Peloponnese. Neither my father nor any of his troops arrived home with the rest. We waited for years as the news grew worse. Odysseus was dead, we were told,or imprisoned, or, worst yet, he had married another woman and abandoned my mother Penelope, my brother Telemachus, and me.


If he is alive somewhere, his thoughts may wander to Penelope and Telemachus, but he won’t be thinking of me. I am the daughter he doesn’t know exists. Odysseus went off to the Trojan War when his son, Telemachus, was barely old enough to walk. His wife, Penelope, was a teenage bride, and is now a young wife, mother, and queen who has to try to rule Ithaca without him.


I was born seven months after he left. I am a hero’s daughter and a princess of his realm, but I have lived my entire life without a father. I’m nineteen now, and still waiting.


All over the world, and throughout history children grow up as I have. This website will focus on the children of those men and women who have gone off to fight America's wars, and provide information and resources for all who care about military families and want to help.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Capturing Kids' Hearts

It’s nice to see young people thinking through ways to help military children in their community. An  article  by Todd Glasscock in  theTaylor (Texas) Daily Press describes how Renee Clark’s Teen Leadership Program at Taylor Middle School recently worked a concession stand at two Taylor Middle School football games, and decided to help children of military families get toys with the money they earned.The seventh and eighth graders will shop for toys for the children of Alpha Troop 1-112th Cavalry based in Taylor, which will be returning from Iraq this month.
This is the first year of the Teen Leadership Program, Clark said, part of the school district’s “Capturing Kids Hearts” mission,  promoting teachers and students in developing compassionate relationships as a way of figuring out what is important to them and how to treat others. 
“All in all,” Clark says, I would say the majority (of students) have grown and by the end of the year will hopefully have developed into more well-rounded mature young adults. We’re just trying to make them well-rounded.”
“We want to give back to the community,” said Teen Leadership student Xavier Washington. “Anything you ask, we’ll do it.”

Posted by About AART at 6:56 AM

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