9/11

Every generation has that one event that makes people stop and take note of their surroundings and etch them in memory forever. For my mom and her generation, it was November 22, 1963. For her parents it was December 7, 1941. For this generation, it is September 11, 2001. Like other tragic events, it seems so long and such a short time ago all at the same time. Today as we remembered the day at school, I realized that after several moves, I teach in the same classroom as twelve years ago. I remember answering the phone that morning to hear my friend and fellow teacher ask if I had heard the news. By the time my students arrived, all four planes had gone down and both towers had fallen. We spent some time watching the news in shock and knew that our lives would be forever changed. Now here I am twelve years later in the same classroom teaching students who were either very young or not even born at the time. Despite this, they know the story, thanks to parents and others who take time to share the tragedy and teach them how our country stood together in adversity. The days and weeks that followed brought us together with more patriotism and faith than I had ever witnessed before. It is sad that it takes an event such as this, but also wonderful to know that we are one nation, under God. In the words of Alan Jackson, "Where were you when the world stopped turning on that September day?"