September 11 13 years Later

[NY10]

Today is a day that I know will be on the minds of everyone across the world. For me as a New Yorker and someone who so clearly remembers that day and the days and weeks even years after.

I was 14 and in 9th grade when the attacks took place. I was in social studies class about a week into my freshman year of high school, a boy (I remember his name) walked into the room and told me what happened, I was in shock, I was also thankful my mom had to stay home from work that day (our fridge broke the night before) as she works in the City and would have been stuck there like so many others.

The sadness, fear and questions that day only grew more as the time went on. As more news broke I remember hearing for the first time in my life the word terrorist and what was happening, in my lifetime war hadn't been something talked about much, before that I was in grammar school and middle school and the only wars we learned about were from years and centuries before hand. I had no clue what a terrorist attack even fully meant, or what would happen next.

As a New Yorker I remember the days following and the smoke and smell coming across the water (I live about 20 minutes from the City and the NYC skyline can be seen from my house)

As a child when this happened and to see what has happened in the years since, well into my adulthood is beyond what I ever thought possible. To think that at 14 I was a kid first learning about the meaning of war and terrorist and hate for others to now being 27 and being a teacher myself, the children I teach are to young and we don't speak about this day with them, they weren't born and it's nothing something we go over in school, not even the middle school addresses it fully due to the kids there also not being born and not understanding fully the depth of it. But to open a high school text book and to know that day is now a chapter those kids learn about and go over is unreal to me still.

The sadness and fear and questions are still as real and familiar today as it was this day for me so many years ago.

 

[gorillagirl]

i had recently resigned from american airlines after many years and was in south africa planning my husband's father's funeral....

 

[theREALTrish]

I can understand not explaining it to very young children but I don't understand not talking about it with older children, especially middle school age children. It's part of our history, and there is plenty of age appropriate information out there. My daughter has read a book about the service dogs, who participated in rescue attempts, to her preschool children. She's found children's books at the library that are all about the attacks but they're very age appropriate and they emphasize more of what people did to help each other, rather than the terror of the attack.

My son, my daughter, and their cousins went to the memorial in March 2013. I watched the opening of the museum on TV, earlier this year. It was so moving but I don't think I could actually go there and see it. A friend of mine, who works in NYC was supposed to attend a meeting at an office in one of the towers that day. He was going because his boss, who was supposed to attend the meeting was out of town. The boss ended up coming back in time for the meeting. My friend didn't have to go. He's alive but his boss is not. So, horribly sad. The world, as we knew it, was changed forever that day.

 

[SheLikesKitties]

I was home sick that day. I was supposed to have been at a Nissan conference, but I was too sick to work.

After so many movies showing the destruction of buildings and cities, at first, it all seemed unreal... like special effects. When the buildings collapsed it all hit me, the vulnerability of the United States, which in my eyes, was like this invincible giant, the death of those people who were in the buildings and planes, and I started crying, feeling so sad. I wondered how this was going to affect my life, because even if I live in a different country, what happens in one part of the world affects another.

At the time, my offices were located in WTC Panama, and I wondered if we were also going to be attacked. Our offices were evacuated just in case.

 

[NY10]

I agree with you Trish, I do feel that it needs to be addressed in the school but for some reason my school is just against it or doesn't want to do. In the high school they do talk about it but I remember (our first day was just 2 weeks ago) that our boss (all the teachers meet the first day for conferences) told us it will not be addressed publicly in the schools, no moment of silence and it's best to not bring up the topic to our children, I work with young kids so I understand why not talking to a bunch of 6 year olds would make sense.

I also remember when Sandy Hook happened a lot of schools took a moment of silence and my principle decided it wasn't a good idea and our school was I believe one of the only one's who didn't partake. He thought that was a matter that parents should handle with their kids and shouldn't be mentioned in schools or have attention brought to it.