Monday, September 12, 2011

Where were you?

I spend some time every year on September 11th talking with my students about the events of that day. They usually want to know where I was and what I remember, so I share that story with them. In the past, students have wanted to share what they remember about that day. Today, as I had my September 11th sit-down with them, I heard the following comments:

"I remember seeing all that on TV. [Yeah right, says the teacher.] My mom was feeding me in my highchair."
"My dad told me I started crawling that day."
"I wasn't even born for 3 more days!"

Wow. Time really does fly.

2 comments:

  1. Oh man! I remember that 9/11 like it was yesterday. I had just graduated from High school that summer and was gearing up to start my first year of college. I just remember being glued to the screen in shock. A news broadcast that still stands out to me is when Tom Brokaw couldn't make it through his lines and got choked up. What an emotional moment.

    I cried a lot that day.

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  2. Wow! That is so interesting. I was testing a student whose parents were convinced she could test out of seventh grade so she was in my office taking the series of CBE (credit by exam). Our campus police officer came to my door and motioned for me to step outside and he informed me of the first incident. I let her finish up the exam she was taking and then joined the rest of our administrative staff to strategize for the day. Our phones were ringing off the hook and parents had already started to come to the school to pick up their children. My principal decided that since I was the counselor I should make a statement to the teachers and students over the PA system. It.was.hard. But my faith in God gave me strength and of course I have eternal hope in His care, love and protection. The rest of the day was just a steady flow of parents picking up their kids, reassuring the kids whose parents didn't pick them up and trying to process personally all that was happening. I was leading a small Bible study with a group of teachers and they talked to me about meeting after school to pray. What I really wanted to do was go get my own kids from school and just hold them tight. Instead, I held countless other students and prayed that there was someone there for my kids. My girls were high schools. They were good and their faith was a source of encouragement to others.

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