My little boy slept in this morning. Camp is over, and he doesn't have plans to late morning. When i when in to wake him he was sleeping soundly. Dreaming.

Of what? Yu Gi Oh? Cartoons? Adventures? His friends. Something appropriate for an eight year old with an active imagination.

Then i thought about last night. We were sitting in our living room, the heat wave of the past few weeks had broken. But it was still hot. Then - for a moment - the lights flickered. Went Dark, and came back on. My wife said "it's a Brown Out". And my son - who's not afraid of dragons or swords, or evil villains - was shaking. His heart was racing. He was as scared as i've ever seen him.

Why? Because the lights flickered? Or because somewhere he connected the darkness with the pictures he's been seeing in the newspaper of war.

He asks about it a lot. In particular if he sees pictures of children scared or crying. I try and keep the paper from him, turn the page, or hide the cover. He's only 8. But the news is everywhere - and he sees it.

So today - I'm thinking about other children. Children in Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, and Lebanon. Children who have seen terrible things. Things they'll never forget. Children who's dreams must be filled with terrors that they can't forget. Do they wake rested - or has that innocent peace of an 8 year olds dream been taken from them forever?

My son saw the lights flicker in his apartment -- and was taken to a place he doesn't want to know exists. This morning, he was talking a again about the 'brown out' and how it 'freaked him out.' He's over it - but warily.

And i can't help about the children who's night terrors are only bound to get worse.