nmah4952.xml
Title
nmah4952.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-13
NMAH Story: Story
When you work in a school of about three hundred or so, young children you want to protect (mother) each and everyone of then from the evils in the world. On September 11, 2001, that task became impossible.
Approximately 9 oclock AM on September 11, I went into our school copy room. I was given the horrible news. A plane crashed into the World Trade Center. It did not sink in until Kate told me twice. At first I thought, How could a pilot not see those huge buildings but then reality set in. It was not an accident!
What do we tell the children? How can we explain to them that someone had that much hate in their hearts that they would kill so many innocent Americans.
With our principles direction we did not speak of the cowardly and horrific act of violence. We wanted the children to have the last few hour of school to be as normal as possible because from that moment on things just would not be the same for anyone. We asked parents that came to help with lunch just not to talk about it in front of the younger children. The word of the tragedy had already started to circle around the second floor (older children). At dismissal, you could see on the faces of the moms and dads coming for their children that the world just would not be the same anymore.
In month to come, I felt having an 11-year-old son (Robbie) and a 9-year-old daughter (Catie) that it was my job to help them to understand want had happened on that day. Over Easter break my sister and I took them to Ground Zone. Not sure that I was doing the right thing I was very apprehensive, until Catie saw a small beanie baby someone had left in memory of a lost loved one. She said, Mommy look people left a beanie baby to remember somebody lost. Right then I knew I did the right thing. She felt the lost that all Americans were feeling. Robbie noticed that people as far away as California sent big banners of prayers and love. To this day when we talk about what happened in New York City and in Washington, he will say, dont forget the people on the plane in Pennsylvania. He always remembers them.
We pray every morning going to school for the souls God has taken home and for those loved ones left behind.
My Story
Approximately 9 oclock AM on September 11, I went into our school copy room. I was given the horrible news. A plane crashed into the World Trade Center. It did not sink in until Kate told me twice. At first I thought, How could a pilot not see those huge buildings but then reality set in. It was not an accident!
What do we tell the children? How can we explain to them that someone had that much hate in their hearts that they would kill so many innocent Americans.
With our principles direction we did not speak of the cowardly and horrific act of violence. We wanted the children to have the last few hour of school to be as normal as possible because from that moment on things just would not be the same for anyone. We asked parents that came to help with lunch just not to talk about it in front of the younger children. The word of the tragedy had already started to circle around the second floor (older children). At dismissal, you could see on the faces of the moms and dads coming for their children that the world just would not be the same anymore.
In month to come, I felt having an 11-year-old son (Robbie) and a 9-year-old daughter (Catie) that it was my job to help them to understand want had happened on that day. Over Easter break my sister and I took them to Ground Zone. Not sure that I was doing the right thing I was very apprehensive, until Catie saw a small beanie baby someone had left in memory of a lost loved one. She said, Mommy look people left a beanie baby to remember somebody lost. Right then I knew I did the right thing. She felt the lost that all Americans were feeling. Robbie noticed that people as far away as California sent big banners of prayers and love. To this day when we talk about what happened in New York City and in Washington, he will say, dont forget the people on the plane in Pennsylvania. He always remembers them.
We pray every morning going to school for the souls God has taken home and for those loved ones left behind.
My Story
NMAH Story: Life Changed
I hold my children that much more.
NMAH Story: Remembered
Working at a catholic school we all felt being with God would help us all become one. And we were right!
NMAH Story: Flag
We have always flown an American Flag outside our home. Its still there today.
Citation
“nmah4952.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed November 23, 2024, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/44684.