European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 7, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Magazine America s children reaching out in sorrow Hope by Daniel Goleman new York times d ear or. Mcauliffe one child wrote tothe husband of Christa Mcauliffe i m very sorry that you lost your wife. I was watching the news and i saw your children say Don t go mom and i m sure they Are very unhappy. I wish i could help you and your family. Sincerely yours Mike  mental health experts say this letter and thousands like it show that Many children experienced the death of Christa Mcauliffe the schoolteacher astronaut As the symbolic loss of a Mother and that they May have been More deeply disturbed by this loss than they let on otherwise. At the same time the experts say the very act of writing the letters was a Way for Many children to heal these emotional wounds. An official of the National aeronautics and space administration estimated that More than half a million letters have been received since the explosion of the space shuttle challenger on Jan. 28 killed Mcauliffe and six other Crew members. About a third of the letters were from children Many of them signed by groups of children classes or even by entire schools. A sampling of these letters to Nasa and to the Young astronauts Council a club for Young space enthusiasts was made available to the new York times. Child psychiatrists on the whole found that the sentiments expressed by the children were genuine but they also noted that they could single out passages or phrases in some letters that reflected adult coaching. Writing a letter lets a child express and organize his feelings in a Way he would be unable to face to face said Spencer eth a psychiatrist in los Angeles who counsels children whose parents have suffered a violent death. It s a Way for a child to repair his inner  some children particularly those in the lower grades seem to have Felt helpless in the face of an overwhelming catastrophe a drawing in one of the letters for example shows a huge shuttle taking off surrounded by ominous puffs of smoke and a bit of Wishful thinking two people in parachutes. In delicate detail dwarfed by the shuttle is the tiny stick figure of a child crying. Writing a letter or drawing a picture is a Way for a child to continue a dialogue with the astronauts and soften the blow of their loss said Barton Blinder a child psychoanalyst in the department of psychiatry at the University of California at Irvine. Even though the letters Are written to the survivors they Are a Way to reach out to the  Blinder was one of several mental health experts to whom some of the letters were shown. Many of the millions of children who were primed for Mcauliffe s lessons from space had a crushing a photo the challenger explosion on Jan. 28 that killed schoolteacher Christa Mcauliffe and six other Crew Mem Bers has prompted millions of americans including children to write to Nasa. Disappointment. Typical of the reactions was that of Becky Carlton a 6-year-old member of the Young astronauts in Tucson Ariz. As part of a group letter Becky wrote i feel real sad and i want to cry for All the kids and their parents and especially for the teacher because she was the Only one who knew really knew about space equipment and space stuff to teach  for those children who had been looking Forward to the lessons from space the explosion was a Hope demolished said Blinder. It stirs up a special frustration that of a Promise  since the death of the astronauts was at a psychological distance it seems to have freed Many of the children to pour out their feelings in their letters. They can talk about their feelings particularly their affectionate feelings More openly than they might with the actual death of a Parent said Edward Podvoll a psychiatrist in Boulder Colo. It s like the trial death of a Parent. They Don t feel the emotional paralysis or the anger at being abandoned that can typically Well up when a Parent  for most children there is positive potential in the Opportunity to learn about death before Fate forces that lesson on them through the death of someone close to them according to the experts. As part of the National mourning Over the astronauts children will see models of grieving which will help them when a More personal loss comes along said eth. A new York times lbs news poll conducted after the shuttle explosion found that 85 percent of the 224 children 9 through 17 years old in the poll wanted the shuttle program to continue and 65 percent wanted to Fly in space themselves. The margin of sampling error in the Survey of the children was plus or minus seven percentage Points. That attitude is strongly reflected in the letters which Are As full of Hope and determination As of grief. We must still go to space now More than Ever so our seven astronauts did t die for nothing wrote Joseph Bubb a fourth grader at St. Simon and St. Jude school in Brooklyn who signed himself a future  the same determination was shown by members of the Young astronauts Council who almost All said in the letters they sent to the Council s Headquarters in Washington and in discussions held after the shuttle explosion in Many of the groups that they still aspired to go into space themselves. The Young astronauts Council was founded in october 1984 by Jack Anderson. The Council open to children 6 to 16 years old sponsors scientific activities and classes about space travel. The group has close to a Quarter of a million members. Since the shuttle explosion the rate at which new chapters Are forming has doubled to about 100 a week according to Wendell Butler director of the Young astronauts. Even though Many children were deeply troubled by the explosion experts believe the event will leave no lasting psychic scars except for the most vulnerable. Children Are not As fragile As we tend to think said Jerome Frank a psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. It s Only in this Century that children have been so shielded from death. Through history though children have always confronted the death of people in their  the children have recovered much faster than the adults connected with the shuttle disaster said Linda Long the press officer who represented the teacher in space program at the shuttle launching. Many children the letters show were stirred by the heroic nature of the astronauts deaths. The children s feelings of wanting to emulate these heroes is in the eyes of experts an affirmation of their own future. A hero is someone who confronts danger and a hero s death adds to the nation s feeling of greatness said Peter Neubauer a child psychoanalyst in new York City. Those children who want to emulate the astronauts by going into space Are affirming their own growth their own future by rejecting a Retreat into passivity. They re saying they Aren t Content just to Settle for the Good life but that they identify with these  monday april 7, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 13