story4784.xml
Title
story4784.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-11
911DA Story: Story
I was substitute teaching in an kindergarten room on Sept. 11, 2001. The children came to school that day talking about an airplane hitting a building. The children's stories were mix with reality and fantasy as is the case many times with young children. I thought how could it be! I was just at home 45 minutes ago. I never had a clue that anything so horrific that occured. Even when the principal came around to each room and told everyone what had happened it still did not sink in what had actually happend. I sat in the teacher's lounge listening to teachers talk at lunchtime and still I could not get a grip on what had happened. It wasn't until I got home and turned on the television did it really hit me that our country had been attacked by terrorists.
Myself, as I am sure many feel,the hardest part of this act of war is unlike past wars, it is hard to tell who the enemy is that we are fighting. Osma is only part of the problem. I pray that our leaders will be guide to get the people responsible without more innocent people dying.
As I look back 1 year from 9/11 I found an interesting coincidence in my life. During my 54 years I have lived through 3 major American tragedies. The assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle and the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. When I heard the news of each of these events I was in a school. I was a sophmore in high school in English literature class when President Kennedy's assassination was announced over the intercom at school. I was teaching a class of three-year-olds at a preschool when I heard the news of the Challenger. And of course I explained above about 9/11.
Thinking back over the past also reminder of when I was in elementary school and we had drills against the event there was a bomb attack. We would all get down on the floor under our desks. I can remeber when my own daughters were growing up and the schools had bomb shelters in the event of a nuclear attack. But how do we prepare our children to protect themselves against the attack of terrorism. When the enemy may be a neighbor, friend, or someone who works with Mom and Dad.
Many times the United States has been critized when they have become involved in the politics of other countries but at least when we there fighting for what we thought was right everyone knew we were there and not like the acts of terrorists.
Myself, as I am sure many feel,the hardest part of this act of war is unlike past wars, it is hard to tell who the enemy is that we are fighting. Osma is only part of the problem. I pray that our leaders will be guide to get the people responsible without more innocent people dying.
As I look back 1 year from 9/11 I found an interesting coincidence in my life. During my 54 years I have lived through 3 major American tragedies. The assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle and the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. When I heard the news of each of these events I was in a school. I was a sophmore in high school in English literature class when President Kennedy's assassination was announced over the intercom at school. I was teaching a class of three-year-olds at a preschool when I heard the news of the Challenger. And of course I explained above about 9/11.
Thinking back over the past also reminder of when I was in elementary school and we had drills against the event there was a bomb attack. We would all get down on the floor under our desks. I can remeber when my own daughters were growing up and the schools had bomb shelters in the event of a nuclear attack. But how do we prepare our children to protect themselves against the attack of terrorism. When the enemy may be a neighbor, friend, or someone who works with Mom and Dad.
Many times the United States has been critized when they have become involved in the politics of other countries but at least when we there fighting for what we thought was right everyone knew we were there and not like the acts of terrorists.
Collection
Citation
“story4784.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed January 1, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/3680.