September 11, 2009
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Marching On…
History is a strange thing. Time can make it even stranger. An event that was so fresh in one generation’s mind, can simply become something that the next generation must have learn about in school and complete homework after the lesson. Time does indeed march on.
I read an article this morning in the post about how the events of 9/11 are now being taught in middle and high school. At first it struck me strange that something like that event would have to be taught. Wouldn’t everyone, even younger kids, remember what happened? Then I realized that a high school Junior or Senior today would have been about only 8 or 9 years old. Therefore, they probably weren’t old enough to really comprehend what was going on. I don’t remember that much specifically about being 8 or 9 years old.
It’s strange when what us that are a little older (I was a Junior in high school when 9/11 happened) still think of as sort of current becomes something that has to be taught in schools. It’s just a really weird feeling for me since this is really the first time that I’ve encountered something like watching something I still think of as very current history slide under the past history category.
I very, very vividly remember 9/11. My hometown is about 48 miles from downtown DC and there were so many parents of kids in my school that worked in DC as well as in VA at the Pentagon. That in itself was terrifying but to watch the coverage on tv was another thing. I still can’t really watch documentaries of any of the events because they still freak me out a little bit.
It kind of makes me wonder what some of the people who lived through Pearl Harbor or similar events thought about when their children and grandchildren had to start learning about those things in school because they were so far removed from the actual occurrence. I know that personally, I really like asking my parents about the eighties and early nineties because I don’t remember them really. Just this week, I read a book by Robert Reich, who was the Secretary of Labor under Clinton’s first term. It made me realize how little I remember about the early nineties but then again, I would have just turned 11 during the election of 1996. The unfortunate thing about time is that it tends to remove the personal connection that people have with the event. For people learning about what actually happened during 9/11 for the first time, they probably aren’t going to have the same understanding or same context of understanding of the event that those of us who remember that day do. I suppose I’m the same way about a lot of events that I either didn’t live through or was too young to know what was going on. Just look at the book that I’m reading; I don’t remember Chernobyl happening at all! For that matter, I don’t remember the Soviet Union collapsing (I would have been about 4) even though that was a huge event!
History can be strange but I do hope that these lessons that are being taught now display the necessary gravitas of the situation that all of us who are a little older witnessed on that day in September.
Comments (10)
Fascinating entry, Meg. Yes, the shifting perspective on what is “history” versus “present reality” is interesting to watch. I was born in 1970 so Vietnam and Watergate are very much part of my era, but since I wasn’t old enough to remember them they still exist in a subsection of my brain marked “before my time”. The Bicentinnial was really the start of my consciousness and I have recollections of the Carter-Ford Presidential race. These days, I am shocked when I interact with young people for whom Reagan is a fuzzy memory.
OK, I’m old now. I remember when we were living in England and I had some quarters. The neighbors daughter, age 12-ish, saw them and wondered what they were. (we lived on an American base where we used US currency) They were Bicentennial Quarters. That was the first time I thought about current events vs history. I remember Chernobyl and the USSR collapse (I’m still trying to figure out all the countries that were once considered the USSR). I remember the ’68 Olympics. I remember ‘duck and cover’ in grade school. I don’t remember the JFK assassination, but it was my 3rd birthday. Today would have been my parents 55th wedding anniversary. I remember calling them 8 years ago. My mom had just received a call saying her college classes (she taught Humanities on military bases) were cancelled. She didn’t know why, so I told her to turn on the TV. She said which channel. I said it didn’t matter. (My father had already left to teach his Am. Hst. classes, hum, I wonder where I get it!) I also remember being on the phone half the day because Companion was an airline pilot at the time. Very interesting subject you have today!
I remember the shock and horror I felt that morning when I saw it happening on tv. Many things about that day are ingrained in my memory. It is strange to think that young people will have to be taught about what is such a horrifying event for so many.
I remember walking to work in Rosslyn that morning and thinking what a beautiful day it was. Sunny and not a cloud in the sky…
I remember the exasperated crying and screaming in the classroom. It was disheartening.
I have never been to the States and yet I am affected greatly by this event… I was second year high school, I believe when this happened. New York is 12 hours behind my time, I was sleeping soundly when my mom woke me up and told me about what happened.
It sure did hit home with us huh? So many of my friends had parents that worked near or in the Pentagon, so there were some really worried classmates at my high school.
My dad worked in the pentagon at the time (and is thankfully alive and well) and it bothers me to see how people in the US can let this day pass by without a thought.
My father and I actually had a similar conversation this morning about how children are being taught about 9/11 in schools and compared it to my being taught about Pearl Harbor.
The one constant about time is that it continues to march on. I guess once major events that happen begin to fade from current news, it becomes a candidate for history books.
Sometimes prominent history is skipped at the discretion of a school or teacher. My junior HS history teach glossed over the Civil War as something most countries have. =:-0
Even now we are in historically very interesting times financially and politically that will no doubt be recounted in history books.
Your post makes me think of my students in the 2002-2003 school year. For that one year, I left Okinawa and lived in Virginia. I taught at a secondary school (4,800 students from 7-12th grades…crazy) right on the 95-corridor, just south of the Pentegon, and during that insane sniper time. We had security drills regularly. My students were 7th graders. Most of them had such tender hearts, were still children and not adolescents. We had to have some deep in-class talks on 9-11 because the kids were dealing with its aftermath. Turns out that they were in 5th grade and their teachers were putting the TV on in the classrooms. Many of the students, like you, had parents who commuted to the Pentegon or near it, and so many of the kids in those 5th grade rooms had no idea whether they were watchign their parents’ deaths. Phone lines were tied up, and those young 5th grade hearts and minds were in terror and in grief. I wanted to go back in time and tell those teachers to turn the stupid TV off and to protect those children from hours and hours of fear. Imagine a child’s sense of time and having to wait until that evening to find out if their parents were okay. Then again, you probably don’t have to imagine it…you can remember it.