Two days ago, everything online dripped and drooled of September 11th reminders, news and sentiments. I’m not complaining, I have as much feeling about the event as most, perhaps even more than some. I just couldn’t make myself compose such feelings into an official September 11th posting ON September 11th. TODAY is the day for mine.
I remember sleeping a little bit later than usual before class began in the second week of school. The teenager that I was somewhat of a nanny for flew up the stairs. She plowed through my bedroom door, landing on the bed. Somewhere from downstairs, her screeches followed, delayed by my waking up. She said something about the world ending and planes crashing everywhere. Less than a year after a tragedy in my own family, I wasn’t quite prepared for this one.
Thankfully, my family wasn’t affected by the loss of a loved one in this calamity. Despite this, my heart hurt and my eyes watched and read everything they came across. My attention to this incident was second only to the Columbine shootings and the trauma I witnessed as I watched live, home sick from school for the day.
My heart was pained this year on September 11th, newly named “Patriots Day” when the school inner calm buzzed to life and a narrative was read regarding September 11th. The ache came when not a single student in the room stopped their typing or talking neither during the account of the horrific events of that day nor during the 15 seconds of so-called silence that followed.
The feelings that I was experiencing towards those students yesterday; hurt, dismay, shock, anger and frustration, are probably the same ones that older people feel towards my generation when the 4th of July, Labor Day and Memorial Day roll around. Out here those days constitute wild drinking, barbeques, a day off, home improvement projects and fireworks. What will become of September 11th?