September 11th was 18 years ago
By NJ Chicaa
@NJChicaa (115959)
United States
September 11, 2019 3:25pm CST
Somehow it doesn't seem that long ago but it also does kind of feel like a lifetime. In fact it HAS been a lifetime for my students. . . even longer than their lifetime.
Today is now called "Patriot Day". My school asked everyone to wear red, white, and blue and to observe a moment of silence during the morning announcements. After school there was some type of gathering around the flag pole and photo op.
What has struck me for the past couple of years is that the day 9/11 doesn't mean anything to the students. They weren't alive when the attack occurred (or they were too young to remember it). It is like if someone talks about JFK getting shot--means nothing to me because it was before my time.
*I* remember 9/11/01 and what I was doing as things progressed throughout the day. The students though? This is like Memorial Day or a sad, watered-down version of the 4th of July without the fireworks. I don't know why the schools are still pushing to try to make this day more than what it is. Of course students should know what occurred and they all do. It just doesn't mean the same thing as it does to adults who lived through it.
9 people like this
7 responses
@just4him (305792)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
11 Sep 19
That's the way it is with history. If you weren't alive to live through it, it doesn't have the same meaning as it does to those of us who did live through it.
I was around when JFK was shot. I remember where I was, in school and another teacher came into my room and told the teacher to turn on the radio.
3 people like this
@marguicha (215325)
• Chile
11 Sep 19
History makes us what we are. Although I have seen that younger people seem to think they came out of a saucer. I am old. And although I was very far away from the US the day President Kennedy was shot, I remember where I was that day. As I remember my rage when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed. Nothing that these presidents and authorities you have now, have the power of changing the future those two men had.
Some day, what really happened on 9/11 will be declassified and history will be again rewritten.
1 person likes this
@marguicha (215325)
• Chile
11 Sep 19
@NJChicaa I don´t know what to believe. Many years had to pass until the CIA declassified the help Pinochet got from the US.
1 person likes this
@LovingMyBabies (85127)
• Valdosta, Georgia
11 Sep 19
I understand what you're saying and to be honest this year it hit me harder than any other year surprisingly enough.
I was in 11th grade when 9/11 happened, at that time it was sad but I didn't fully understand the extent of it.
This year when I watched the videos and especially saw the photo of "The Fallen Man" it hit me really hard and tears filled my eyes. 
1 person likes this
@Mike197602 (15487)
• United Kingdom
11 Sep 19
I was just thinking of the similarity with the JFK date.
To many young people I expect 9/11 is just a date same as JFK moon landing etc are just dates to me.
1 person likes this
@Michellekidwell (29260)
• Sonora, California
11 Sep 19
That’s one day I will never forget, and I make sure the girls know what that day meant as well!
1 person likes this
@NJChicaa (115959)
• United States
11 Sep 19
@Michellekidwell well you just had to have lived through it. I didn't lose anyone but I'll never forget the day. For those who weren't born yet. . . it is just a day when something happened like Pearl Harbor Day or whatever.
@Michellekidwell (29260)
• Sonora, California
11 Sep 19
@NJChicaa Yes, I’m sure that is true, unless the student had loved ones directly affected by 9/11 I’m sure!
1 person likes this
