We forgot September 11
On September 11, 2001, two terrorist-hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City. These attacks on home soil left 2,977 American citizens dead, 6000+ wounded, and a gouge deep in the foundation of our country. What followed was the War on Terror and a unification of the American people not seen since the First World War. So why don’t we, as the recipients of this attack, care anymore?
This dissociation could be blamed on the self-obsession of our generation, or maybe it’s the fault of the teachers—those alive to experience the shock that came from 9/11. Often, teachers pass by this day without stopping to educate their students on its significance. Multiple SJHS teachers, however, did take a few moments of class time to remember this event. For example, Mrs. Tracy Becker held a moment of silence in all her classes and Mr. Gary Etter, a history teacher at SJHS, educated his students on this tragic event.
“We devoted one and a half days to the 9/11 lesson,” he said. As a part of his class assignment, Mr. Etter had his students interview a member of the community who remembered the event. These interviews educate kids that weren’t alive back in 2001 about what happened from a first-person point of view. Even in small towns like ours, 9/11 is still taught in-depth by teachers.
Mrs. Becker also remembered 9/11 in her own way with her students.
“This year, my students honored the victims with a minute of silence. In years past, I’ve shared poems and other online interactive activities,” she said.
It’s important for students today to know about past events, especially ones that affected our country so drastically. 9/11 shocked the world, but people living their everyday lives were more affected than even I had realized.
“9/11 changed our American worldview in that we now saw carnage on our own soil. I remember thinking, ‘Wow, this can happen here.’ Before, terrorism—or the idea of it—seemed like something that only happens overseas far away from me. The events of 9/11 became our new reality,” Mrs. Becker said.
If we need to analyze the general American people’s dissociation from 9/11 more, maybe it’s a good idea to browse some news articles relating to the subject. Back in 2015, a journalist, John Hockenberry, wrote an article for PRI news stating that he was “over the 9/11 ritual.” After reading his article a few times, I began to realize that he made a valid point: the tragedy and shock of 9/11 occured over 14 years ago by the time the article was written, and it’s now beem over 18 years. If we can’t remember to remind our parents ‘Hey, the Christmas lights have been up for a few months now and we might need to think about taking those down soon because it’s June,’ how can we remember or have an emotional connection to an event that happened before any of us were even born?
Even as I say that, I do still believe that any event in our country’s history, good or bad, should hold its relevance through generations. We still hold Constitution Day in high regard, despite most of us tuning out the advisory on September 17. Why didn’t we have an advisory on 9/11, a terrorist attack that shaped the way we travel, trade, communicate, defend ourselves, and more?
Why is it up to individual teachers to educate our students on an event that changed our entire country? I believe that the best way to learn about such major events in our past is by learning from the community. What was your 80-year-old neighbor doing on September 11, 2001? Your parents? Your peers? Such a vital part of American history shouldn’t, and never will be, forgotten.