story586.xml

story586.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-05-12

I have recently returned to college to finish my Bachelor's degree in Secondary Education/History. I am married and have two children (14 and 10 yrs. old.) I was getting my daughter off to school, watching Good Morning America as I do every morning, when news broke that 'something' hit the WTC tower. I was intently watching when the New York City reporter screamed, "Oh my God!" and then the world watched as the second tower was hit by a second plane. As soon as the initial shock wore off, I was impressed with the fact that I was watching, in real time, history taking place right before my eyes. I kept thinking about generations before me saying, "I remember where I was when Kennedy was shot." Most of history we have learned about in delayed time. But here I was witnessing something that I would most certainly be teaching from a textbook someday. Very soon I realized that I had the opportunity to create a primary document of my own. I grabbed my homework notebook and began jotting down quotes, comments, estimates, times, statistics, etc. In the end I knew this was my "therapy" and a way of coping with what was going on around me. I kept that notebook with me and made constant notes of what was happening throughout the next few days. I compiled these short descriptions into an informal document that I distributed to my family and children for future reference.

As historians we seem to be constantly defending the 'need' to study history. We too often hear the question, "Why do I have to study this stuff?!" I now point people to the events of September 11th and ask them, "Do we want students in 20 years, or 50 years, or 100 years from now to simply memorize the date 'September 11, 2001' without knowing the events that led up to the terrorist attack - or the surge of patriotism and unification that happened in America? Do we want them to know what happened to our everyday lives - the shock, fear, and uncertainty? What about our economic recovery, or President Bush's reaction to the threat? We do not know what affect this will have on an entire generation of children that experienced this transformation of American society. Will they be the next greatest generation?

We cannot learn about historical events in a vacuum. Events are intricately woven together with causes and effects. Nor can we minimize them to just a date in history. We should learn this from September 11. The Civil War, per se, is not just a period of time from 1861-1865. Just as September 11 was not just a day in 2001.

September 11 was a tumultuous day in America. But it was also a day for me that cemented my resolve to help students understand about the reasons they "have to study History."