Always Remember

On September 11th, 2001, I was in 7th grade. A little bit before lunch, our assistant principal made an announcement saying that she "was sure that we had heard of the explosions in New York by now" and that, for now, the day would carry on as scheduled.  Not having any clue what explosions she was talking about, my peers I and carried on as usual and eventually made our way to lunch and then class. Only when we arrived at class business wasn't as usual.  We walked into classrooms where our teachers had fear in their eyes and, for the first time of many times that would occur over the next few days, weeks, and even months, we watched news coverage that soared above our comprehension levels.  We had questions, but our teachers, who had given us answers to so many questions before, suddenly lacked the ability to meet our concern with eloquently stated guidance and reassurance.

Now, eleven years later, I am in the role of the teacher and have found myself for two years now trying to convey the significance of this date with the perfect balance of grief and thankfulness.  Grief, of course, for the tragedy in the thousands of lives lost.  Thankfulness for the men and women who sacrificed their safety, and often their lives, so that others could survive that day.  

Last year, most of my class was born either just before or just after September 11th.  When having a class discussion about what happened that day, one of my students began crying.  He hadn't known someone who was directly affected, nor was this the first time he had heard of September 11th.  He was simply feeling, so strongly, for all of those affected by the tragedy.

This year, with my small class, our conversation started with us viewing a video outlining the events of the day and paying tribute to the heroes that arose from the hardship.  Before diving into the heavy topic, I like to get a feel for how much my students already know about the day.  Today I was surprised to learn that one of my students had not ever heard of September 11th. Whether or not this was true, I'm not sure, but what can be sure is that perhaps this student hadn't been informed about the day in a way that conveyed the effect it has on Americans today.  In my mind, as important as it is for those of us who were around for that day to always remember, I believe it is just as important for us to do our job to ensure that even those who were not around learn about that day: what happened, what it meant for those directly affected, and what it means for Americans today. 

Today, all of the fifth graders at my school wrote letters to police and firemen to thank them for the service they do for our cities.  If the sincerity and excitement for the task that I saw in my students was at all similar to what the other teachers saw in theirs, then today we did our job to convey at least one small way to pay tribute to the memories of September 11th.