It is especially interesting for me, as a teacher, to talk about 9/11 with my students. To them, this historical event is something that they hear about from their parents or read about in a textbook. My current students were only a year or two old in 2001, so they have no personal memory of the event. It's interesting to hear their perspective on this event that they have no recollection of living through, whereas, I remember every detail of that day like it was yesterday.
I spent the summer of 2001 in New York at an intensive ballet program. I returned home in late August with a new-found love for the Big Apple. About three weeks later, we were back in school and I was a freshman in high school at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts. I was in my morning ballet class when one of the other teachers wheeled a TV into our dance studio. The news was on and they were talking about how a plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Centers. We were all shocked and confused, thinking that this must be some sort of accident or mistake. Our ballet teacher said that she would leave the TV on in the background, but that we were going to continue with our class. As we continued dancing, we could see the reflection of the TV in the back of the room through the mirror that we were all facing. In the middle of a combination we were doing, this is what we all saw in the reflection of the mirror... 9/11 Second Impact
Although we were all horrified and confused by what was happening, we continued on with our school day since all of this was occurring so far away from where we were. All of our teachers kept their TVs on so we could watch the news during class and I remember watching the live coverage of the attack on the Pentagon during my Algebra class. Soon after, my mom came and picked me up from school early. I spent the rest of the day glued to the TV in absolute awe that I was witnessing a day that would surely go down in history. Being the little historian that I am, I taped all of the live news reports from that day on my VCR. I also saved all the newspaper front pages from the days that followed. I still have all of those newspapers and VHS tapes.
I've been back to New York a few times since 9/11/01 and the skyline still looks abnormal to me. Prior to that day, I always remember being in awe of the New York skyline every time we went to visit because it was so beautiful. I am so glad that I got to experience it first-hand before it was forever changed.
Take a moment today to remember those heroes who were lost on September 11th and those who are still defending our country's freedom everyday. Fly your flag today and let everyone know that you are proud to be an American. Remembering 9/11
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