This morning, many news stations recapped their broadcasts from five years ago. I forced myself to watch one. I actually taped a few hours of the newscasts that I have in my video cabinet. I want to have it to show my kids some day.
Five years ago, I was standing outside my classroom in Kentucky, monitoring the hallway, when a teacher who worked next door to me but never spoke to any of his neighboring teachers, walked up to me, and told me to turn my TV on. The man had never said two words to me so I literally shuttered when I considered the implications.
I turned on my TV and didn't turn it off for the rest of the day. Being as I taught high schoolers, I thought it appropriate that each of them watch what was happening. It was my opinion that each one of my students should be watching this transpire. We put aside our books and pencils and all just watched TV together.
My students asked a lot of questions, and I remember that I was so busy trying to answer questions that I really didn't acknowledge what was happening. This was a small rural town of 8,000 people. Many of these students didn't even know where the World Trade Centers were.
It wasn't until I got home that evening and passed a gas station with cars rounding the block, that things began to hit me. I called my mother. Jb and I sat on the couch with our best friends Josh and Sarah without really speaking.
JB and I had visited New York City in July of 2001. I have a picture of me with the towers in the background. We would return to New York two years later. I was so moved seeing the devastation but hearing Americans standing around the Ground Zero site singing our National Anthem and "God Bless America".
It is important to remember that there are 3,000+ families grieving the loss of someone they truly loved today. Please remember them in your thoughts and prayers. I hope that each and every September 11th from now until eternity make us stop in our tracks and remember the people who lost their lives because they were Americans.
Five years ago, I was standing outside my classroom in Kentucky, monitoring the hallway, when a teacher who worked next door to me but never spoke to any of his neighboring teachers, walked up to me, and told me to turn my TV on. The man had never said two words to me so I literally shuttered when I considered the implications.
I turned on my TV and didn't turn it off for the rest of the day. Being as I taught high schoolers, I thought it appropriate that each of them watch what was happening. It was my opinion that each one of my students should be watching this transpire. We put aside our books and pencils and all just watched TV together.
My students asked a lot of questions, and I remember that I was so busy trying to answer questions that I really didn't acknowledge what was happening. This was a small rural town of 8,000 people. Many of these students didn't even know where the World Trade Centers were.
It wasn't until I got home that evening and passed a gas station with cars rounding the block, that things began to hit me. I called my mother. Jb and I sat on the couch with our best friends Josh and Sarah without really speaking.
JB and I had visited New York City in July of 2001. I have a picture of me with the towers in the background. We would return to New York two years later. I was so moved seeing the devastation but hearing Americans standing around the Ground Zero site singing our National Anthem and "God Bless America".
It is important to remember that there are 3,000+ families grieving the loss of someone they truly loved today. Please remember them in your thoughts and prayers. I hope that each and every September 11th from now until eternity make us stop in our tracks and remember the people who lost their lives because they were Americans.
If you want to view a great website for individual moving stories, check this out: MSNBC.
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