Talking to my students about 9/11

It was a time when nearly everything stood still it felt like. I had heard the first plane hit the tower on my way into work five minutes later I walk to the lobby and they had the TV on a news station I watched it for the replay of what happened, and they were speculating about why it happened. Shortly there after the second plane slams into the second World Trade Center building and no one needs to speculate anymore. Confirmation of other planes being unresponsive in the air and likely hijacked come in. It was incredibly shocking, wondering why anyone would do such a thing. In complete disbelief I go to work telling everyone else what I just saw and for the rest of the day we basically didn’t get much of anything done. We would go in the back do something and then come back to the lobby to watch if anything else happened. There was at least two or three people watching the TV at all times and if anything substantial happened or was mentioned one of us would go back and tell the rest who then would come out and see for themselves. Such as when the next plane hit the pentagon it was crazy we kept trying to find out how many more planes were in the air and or high jacked at some point all air travel was grounded and finally the plane that crash landed in a Pennsylvania field comes down likely headed to the white house. They actually had a recording or live call from one of the passengers on that last flight talking about what they were going to do before it reached its destination. But there was still plenty of uncertainty many things that were not shared or common knowledge for hours if not days before a more cohesive story would come to light. At the beginning no one was claiming the attack. It was a best guess based on who the hijackers were. Such a crazy few days to follow, we had to go in like nothing happened but still little to nothing got done as everyone was consuming news feeds and looking for answers. I felt numb and or in a daze just going through the motions. As the realization that nothing would ever be the same sank in. It was a life and societal catastrophe that changed the trajectory of everything I had known. Life as I knew it was over, yet it was still moving on forwards and I still needed to find my way. It was a shared experience yet how everyone chose to react to it was dramatically different. Some hunkered down in fear, isolating themselves, afraid to go anywhere unfamiliar or even out of their homes safe for necessities. Others raged out spewing hatred towards anyone that resembled the handful of hijackers. Some dove into their communities for connection, support and comfort while many others joined the military to fight for what was right. Yet others still became more compassionate than before realizing one only does these things out of hate and the only way to defeat hate is with love. So many peoples lives changed for better or worse or possibly just indifference yet were still changed by their surroundings. It was a time of chaos and uncertainty, togetherness, fear, pride and so much more all risen to the heights I had never felt before. Prior to 9/11 I remember always carrying a pocketknife with me (Swiss army knife style with little tools and such as well from boy scouts I had as a kid) you were aloud to have it as long as it was no longer than __?__ (I don’t remember I want to say like 2-3inches. You were allowed a lighter and so many other things that were banned. Heck some people would bring 2liter bottles of Coke onto the plane with them. Though of course on flights over 3 hours we would get a TV dinner style meal served to us on the plane. Most of the time other than takeoff or landing you could walk throughout the plane, some planes even had a bar area (my dad took me into that area a few times) with tables and people playing cards, smoking, drinking and some even had music. It was more like a train in the air than the sardine can it is today. Walking all the way to the gate to say goodbye when someone left or waiting at their gate as they arrived was common practice. Thinking back it’s like we lived in an entirely different world and I think how did we get here and then I realize it’s because so many people in positions of power made decisions out of fear. An when you make a decision out of fear you remove a part of your freedom for the illusion of freedom.