Reality Check

I got a huge reality check today when I started talking to my classes about 9/11. See, to me, it doesn't seem like that long ago... I mean, 5 years ago, I was in college and now I'm out and working, but it still seems almost like yesterday that it all happened.

My kids were curious about 9/11 and started asking me if I remembered it and about specific things that happened that day and the days following the attacks. I told them my story about Jill waking me up in the sorority house and how I didn't believe her. I told them about sitting with all of the girls in the house watching the same news footage over and over and over because cell phones weren't working and none of us could call home but we needed to be with somebody to try to make sense of what was happening. I also told them about standing in line to give blood for over 2 hours just to be told to come back the next morning, which we all did because we knew it was a way we could help. And I filled them in on what happened in the days afterwards, things that happened at A&M and around the country as the nation grieved.

I was totally shocked that none of them remembered anything about that day.

Maybe that was because they were all in the 2nd grade when it happened. They were 7 years old, barely old enough to be trusted to go to the bathroom by themselves and allowed only to stay up until 8:30. The school didn't interrupt their day and tell them what was happening. As far as I can tell, neither did their parents. How do you explain September 11 to a room full of 2nd graders?

Sadly, since no one explained it to them then, they still don't really know for sure what happened. I had some students who thought it was all a big accident. I had some from military families that knew every detail of the day, but not much about why or the effects it had on our country. And I had others who really could have cared less.

And I guess that's why I feel so strongly about telling kids about what happened. I understand that some people think it's too soon for movies and documentaries. I know they are still grieving and don't want to open up wounds that haven't totally healed. I know some don't want to be reminded of the pain of that day. But for those that were too young to remember, this is all they have to understand such a tragic day in our nation's history.

A lot of people still aren't ready to talk about it.... but today in my classroom I saw 134 reasons why, as a nation, we should.