Here’s a post from September 11, 2006, on the fifth anniversary of the attack. New posts return next week.
Since we’re all sharing 9/11 stories today, here’s mine.
Like Lorie, I’ve avoided writing about the events that happened five years ago today because I never felt that the story was mine to tell. So many people were deeply and profoundly affected by their losses that day; I wasn’t. I have long felt that my voice would not add to the conversation.
I was scheduled to teach four classes that day, the first one beginning at 7:30AM Pacific Time. I had woken up just before 6:00AM, and turned on CNN (something I do most mornings) just after the second plane had gone into the towers. I watched TV until it was time to leave for school; the first tower collapsed while I was in the car on the way to school, the second just as I walked into my first class.
We had a television in the classroom, and I made the decision to turn it on. I told the students who hadn’t heard (a surprising number had made it to school that morning unaware), and we sat and watched coverage together. I told them I was available to talk, and I sat with them all morning as we watched the local NBC affiliate (the only station that came in clearly). I did the same thing with all of my classes that day — sitting in the classroom, television on, inviting students to sit with me. If they wanted to go home, I let them go. If they wanted to step into the hall and chat, we did (only a few wanted to talk). If they wanted to sit and watch the towers fall, over and over again, they could do that with me nearby.
The only other time I’ve ever interrupted class to turn on the TV for a live news event was in October 1995, when the OJ Simpson verdict was read aloud. That was a planned event (we’d heard about the time of the jury announcement the day before), and though my students were stunned (and divided), that was a very different occasion. Both then and on 9/11, I sat with my students who wanted to talk and "process" their feelings about what had occurred. It was a lot more fun with OJ.
Did I handle 9/11 the right way? I don’t know. Some of my colleagues kept right on teaching, some canceled classes and themselves went home. I couldn’t teach, but I didn’t want to leave the students who might want a comforting presence there to watch with them. Under the circumstances, I think it was the best I could do.
You did the right thing.
You did a lot better than my 2nd grade teacher the day JFK was shot. When we came in from recess, she announced the news, then made us all put our heads down on our desks for a minute, the sort of gesture of respect that becomes utterly meaningless when forced/commanded. And I don’t recall words of comfort or much else. Looking back I can figure that she was totally unprepared and didn’t know what to do at all, and it just fit in with the general cluelessness of that school.
I don’t recall where I added my own 9-11 story, it’s somewhere. I do recall hearing about the Simpson verdict while mall-crawling at Southcenter. I was in one of the stores buying something when it came on the radio. The lady behind the counter looked like she’d been shot thru the heart. I think I commiserated. Retracing my steps along the concourse, I saw a couple of young people outside another store doing a jig of glee. I still don’t know if he was guilty or not, but I didn’t trust him and didn’t feel that good about the case. A person strong enough to kill 2 adults damn well ought to know better. Or something. Being a sports star doesn’t excuse a thing.
Asking everyone to be silent for a minute is one thing; asking us to make a gesture that looks like self-abasement is another. I’ll lower my head when I darn well feel like it. But I would not interfere with another person’s ritual.
As to whether those who canceled class on 9-11 and went home were remiss, I don’t know. It would be nice if everyone could be as strong and nurturing and supportive as you seem to have been that day, but not everyone has that much strength at hand however they try; too many things can drag them down and leave them ill-prepared. Seems to me though that everyone in a teaching or leading capacity should have some plans for sudden events like that. But no, I don’t know if everything really can be planned for, all the way thru. I think you were fortunate as well as strong.