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CNN Live Saturday

Community Remembers Todd Beamer; Interview with Michael Popkin

Aired May 04, 2002 - 22:18   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Meanwhile, another hero of 9/11 is being honored by the community who mourns his loss, but wants to remember him forever. Todd Beamer, as you know, was a passenger aboard United flight 93. And his famous phrase "let's roll" came to symbolize a valiant resistance against the hijackers.

Here's CNN's Brian Palmer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On this warm, clear day, a small town gathers to honor a neighbor who died fighting hijackers. Strikingly similar to the day nearly eight months ago when the passengers of flight 93 fought the hijackers, preventing a potentially greater catastrophe on September 11.

VITO CETTA, U.S. POSTAL SERVICE: With America under siege, and knowing that his life was at risk, Todd Beamer, along with other passengers aboard flight 93 did not cower in fear, but sprang into action.

PALMER: Lisa Beamer asked the audience to remember how her husband died and how he lived.

LISA BEAMER, TODD BEAMER'S WIDOW: For all the stories of larger than life courage, Todd was really a regular guy. He wasn't perfect, but he worked from a solid core of character, faith and love. He would have preferred to be remembered in Cranbury as a great Little League coach instead of as a national hero.

I think if Todd were here, we'd be sitting -- laughing at each other, going, "Can you believe this?" Because this is not who we are at all or who were at all. But I'm just honored and overwhelmed that our community and our nation would choose to honor Todd in this way, and I'm very appreciative.

PALMER: New Jersey Congressman Rush Holt sponsored the legislation to rename the Cranbury post office in honor of Todd Beamer.

REP RUSH HOLT (R), NEW JERSEY: Todd Beamer is symbolic of American heroes. Tom is not the only person who sized up the situation quickly on board the flight and acted. There were others.

PALMER: Several other passengers fought back, too, including Thomas Burnett and former judo champ Jeremy Glick.

Senator John McCain paid tribute to passenger Mark Bingham at a memorial service.

SEN JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: It's been my fate to witness great courage and sacrifice for America's sake. But none greater than the selfless sacrifice of Mark Bingham and those good men who grasped the gravity of the moment, understood the threat, and decided to fight back at the cost of their lives.

PALMER: And flight 93 Captain Jason Dahl's old grade school was renamed for him.

For the people of this central New Jersey town, this is just one small way to remember one of their own.

Brian Palmer, CNN, Cranbury, New Jersey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CALLAWAY: Well, the heroes of that tragic day will never be forgotten, but neither will the trauma. A study by New York's board of education found an estimated 75,000 local school children there showed six or more symptoms of post-traumatic stress, months after the attacks.

Joining me now is parenting specialist Michael Popkin. He's also the author of this book, "Getting Through to Your Kids." He's joining us to talk about this study. And amazing to me, Michael, that these kids, this -- you know, not the ones who lost someone. We can understand that, but we're talking about kids that live even outside of the city, still suffering some post-traumatic stress from this event.

MICHAEL POPKIN, PARENTING SPECIALIST: Right. I don't think the mental health community's going to be all that shocked by it. 10 percent, considering the magnitude of the trauma. We're talking about something that's never occurred in U.S. history before.

CALLAWAY: Right.

POPKIN: And these kids that experienced it that close to home, it's a proximity thing, too. It's not affecting kids in Atlanta or Nebraska the same way. The kids in New York City, when they went close to those buildings going down, and they knew people that knew people that lost lives, it was so indelibly in the pit of their minds. You see those images of the buildings. It's going to be something that's going to be with them for a while.

CALLAWAY: So what does the mental health community do? What do the parents do for these kids?

POPKIN: Well, the parents have to start, again. And they've probably been doing this, but they continue to talk to their kids, to get them to help express their feelings and their thoughts about it. But also, let's also acknowledge the fact that these kids (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in school. So these kids aren't hiding out under their beds. They're getting up every day. They're going to school. They're going to parties. They're going to sports events. And they're doing the things that kids do. So they're showing a lot of courage in spite of the fact that they still have some anxiety and some stress related to 9/11.

CALLAWAY: So even though they may be functioning, they're still suffering from some stress?

POPKIN: Yes. And the mental health community, for some people, they're going to need some counseling. And some of them are getting it. Others may need more.

CALLAWAY: Right.

POPKIN: Others (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to be able to talk to each other about it, to be able to help them thing about what are their attitudes about it. What part of the fear is rational and useful? And what part needs to be challenged with some more courageous thinking.

CALLAWAY: What's also interesting about this study is how it affected kids who are not even in this area. You know, I was telling you before this newscast about my kid, who you know, obviously lives a long way from New York. Just the other day, a couple weeks ago, made a video about the heroes of 9/11.

POPKIN: Right.

CALLAWAY: Just out of the blue. And it was amazing to me that it was still right there for her, that it was so fresh in her memory everything that happened. So that means that kids all over the country are still thinking about this.

POPKIN: That's right.

CALLAWAY: And have lots of questions.

POPKIN: Well, you know what the answer to fear is, is action, it's doing something. When kids go ahead and make videos, when they send letters, when they make -- when they talk to other people, when they talk about what America's doing as a whole, to protect ourselves and to make us more secure than they were on 9/11, that helps to remove the fear and to help them deal with things more effectively.

CALLAWAY: But don't you think now most of us think that kids are so resilient, that this far along, after 9/11, it really shouldn't be something that you should talk about, but you don't agree with that?

POPKIN: Well, they are resilient. I'm not saying kids aren't resilient, but this was such a blow, that it's going to take more effort than, you know, than a lot of other things.

CALLAWAY: Yes, well so are parents, too, though right? We're still reeling from it.

POPKIN: That's right, a lot of -- yes, right? A lot of parents refuse to fly, refuse to get on with their lives in some ways. So -- and these parents again need to talk about their fears with people, again, help separate the rational fears from those fears that are excessive, and to sum up that part of themselves that are courageous and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) moving forward.

CALLAWAY: You're here in Atlanta, but I want to ask a question.

POPKIN: : Sure.

CALLAWAY: I bet you get a lot of questions from parents and teachers. Are you still -- you know, this -- all these many months after 9/11 on how to talk to this -- to kids about this?

POPKIN: Sure, well, we talk about in the book about talking about all kinds of subjects and temptations that are really on parents minds these days, everything from sexuality, where we've got sex scandals going on, to crime. We had school shootings in Germany.

CALLAWAY: Right.

POPKIN: Parents have to really learn how to talk to their kids in ways that get through the beliefs and the values.

CALLAWAY: Right.

POPKIN: And that's a big part of our responsibility as parents.

CALLAWAY: Michael Popkin with the book, "Getting Through to Your Kids." Thank you very much for being with us tonight. There is a lot of good information in here and thank you for what you are doing.

POPKIN: Thank you.

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