I was teaching at Southeast High School on Sept. 11, 2001. My American literature class of juniors had just read The Crucible. I was showing the class a clip from the movie when a colleague came to my door, motioned me into the hall and told me what had happened in New York.
Two weeks earlier I had introduced The Crucible by telling the students about the fear of witches in the time period of the play and asked them to name something they thought would bring mass fear in our time. They had said – our country being attacked.
And so here we were.
I explained what was happening in New York and turned on the news. My students watched in shock. Within a few minutes the bell rang to go to their next class. Students exited in silence. The halls were totally quiet.
These “kids” were adults that day and knew the impact of what had happened. I saw what I often witnessed as a teacher – the intelligence, concern, care and thinking of young people – and was once again reminded that our future was in good hands. Today, those students are 41 or 42 years old contributing to our community.
It was test day in my US history classes. Kept the tv off until students finished their test. Turned on tv news in time to see the second tower hit. Next few years I talked to students who fought in Afghanistan and Iraq. As in the beginning of my teaching career talking to Vietnam War vets.
I was actually supposed to be in her class later on that day but went home early. When it first happened I was at Capitol Area Career Center and watched it all unfold in the cafeteria with all the other students there. It was one of the most shocking things I’ve ever seen and something I will never forget. I remember trying to get to work that evening and had such a hard time because the roads were blocked with people freaking out trying to get gas at all of the gas stations. The one next to my work was selling gas for $15 a gallon and their line was a block away on both sides of the road.
I was getting ready to leave for work and I heard something on the radio and we turned on the tv and we both never went to work. We were just shocked. I had read about how Osama bin laden wanted to take planes and take out towers in Asia and I read this in Newsweek magazine that my parents had about 7 years before this happened. I view the incident as a huge security fail.