Letter to Code Name Alice Re: Mumbai

Life is hard. I'm not going to lie to you, baby girl. Someday things are going to be really difficult. I can't stop that. All I can do is give you the ninja skills necessary to take on some of the challenges you will face. But you will face challenges that even the greatest ninja skills cannot overcome.

I think about these things when you reach up and wrap your little arms around my neck, squeezing me out the biggest baby-bear hug you can muster. I know you are really trying to eat my neck but I like to think of it as a big hug. I could hug you all day. And I think of this also when I hear of bad things happening--things that someday soon, you will have to face.

Bad things are happening as I write this. People are dying. People are killing other people. It's crazy. It's just madness. I can't explain it to you; All I can say is that it is. These things happen.

Photo from AP Photo by Rajanish Kakade: 8 hours ago: Pigeons fly near a flame from the Taj Hotel hotel in Mumbai, India, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2008. Teams of heavily armed gunmen have stormed luxury hotels, a popular restaurant, hospitals and a crowded train station in coordinated attacks across India's financial capital Wednesday night, killing at least 82 people and taking Westerners hostage, police said.

Even a ninja has to choke back some tears at the intense madness of these events. But good things happen too. There is still so much beauty and wonder in the universe. I don't regret bringing you into this world. It's awful at times but it's also fantastic and fun and enlightening.

You have this power. You can change the world. It's in your laugh. That's the most powerful ninja tool you have. Whatever happens, as long as I live, I'll be here to work out these things with you. Even though laughter won't save you through times like this one, I'll be here to give you that bear hug and we can cry a bit together and we will make it through.

These things too shall come to pass.

Photo from Reuters Pictures 3 hours ago: Firemen try to douse a fire at the Taj Hotel in Mumbai November 27, 2008. At least 101 people have been killed in attacks by gunmen in Mumbai, police said on Thursday.