September 11th- A Day of Remembrance

I had another blog post planned, and it may go up at a later date, but I felt that this one really needed to go up today.

Ten years ago today, I was in my 4^th grade class when the principal walked in to tell us what had happened. If our small school had an intercom system at all, it was a bad one, so that’s how my principal was left to tell everyone. He walked in and told my teacher that the World Trade Towers had been bombed. My teacher had a look of shock and disbelief. She looked at him and said “What?”

The principal said that one of the towers had been hit with an airplane, but this time when he tried to say something, his voice broke. I could tell even then that he was trying to be strong because he had a lot more classes to go to before everyone knew. He basically told her to just turn on the television because it was on every channel.

Being nine years old, I didn’t exactly know what was going on. I saw the footage of the plane hitting the building many times, but it still didn’t sink into me what was happening. Until then (and I know that this sounds bad), I didn’t even know that the towers were in New York. From then on, I noticed the towers in a bunch of the movies that I had seen when I was little. I wasn’t a very observant child…

Later that school year, our student teacher was using worksheets that weren’t really that old, but were definitely out dated… they said that the World Trade Towers in New York were the tallest buildings in America. Though it was kind of awkward, the teacher used the experience to teach us how quickly books can become outdated and how often history changes.

From that point on, it has been a constant reminder of what happened. Every year, we are asked to remember those who died that day and the family and friends left behind. Though none of my friends or family were killed, all of our lives have been affected. My best friend’s sister was an hour outside of NYC when all of this was happening. She’s a little older than me so she remembers everything more than I do, and it hit a lot closer to home for her. Though none of my family members have enlisted in the military, many of my friends and their families have. I see how affected they are by the war. One of my friends found out she was pregnant days after her husband was deployed and I could tell how hard everything was on her at that point.

A few years ago, one of my teachers had the class do a 9/11 specific assignment. She wanted us to express how we thought that 9/11 should be remembered: should it be made a holiday, if so, should it be a day that we get out of school or work, why or why not, etc. I have the same opinion now that I did back then. I believe that it should be a “holiday” in that we do remember the lives lost on that day(and maybe one of those days marked on a calendar), but not one that we get out of school for. Like Veteran’s Day. Maybe schools could have special programs during or after school and maybe the president would issue a message to hug your family extra tight and remember those families who lost loved ones on this day and stuff like that, but not one of those holidays where we get out of school or work. I know that those days are nice, but at this point, Labor Day has just happened, so it’s not like we NEED another day like that off.  And, my other reason for this is that I don’t want 9/11 to be another excuse to go grilling and swimming and to just not do anything.  Not only did everyone just do that on Labor Day, but it would lose it’s meaning like the other full weekend holidays have. Sure, Independence Day is still a pretty patriotic time, but think about Memorial Day. Most of the time, people are too caught up with trying to find the best beach spot to even think about why we have that long weekend.

To wrap up my kind of long blog:

Half of my life has been in this post-9/11 America, so it’s really all I know. The reality of the attacks ten years ago has affected everyone, even this girl from a small town in Tennessee. I do believe that this is a day of remembrance, and whatever is done to keep that remembrance alive instead of cheapening the day I will support. 

So, go hug your family extra tight, call the ones who aren’t close enough to hug (especially your grandparents, because it’s Grandparents Day  today, too lol), and remember those who aren’t able to hug their all of their family members because of the events that happened in New York ten years ago today.

-andrea aka fred