More than two decades after a group of terrorists attacked the U.S.A. using commercial airliners my memories of that day are as clear as if the events happened yesterday. Although my emotions are not as raw as when those events happened, I still have a visceral reaction when I think about that day. While I do not wish to ever live through such a situation again, given the events that have happened around the world and within the U.S.A., I would expect another terrorist attack in my lifetime. I would hope in that event that the “better angels” would again arise.
I was teaching a World History 1 class during the first period of the day. At about 9:15am, there was a knock on my classroom door. An administrator called me into the hallway, out of hearing of the students, and told me that a plane had struck a World Trade Center tower. There would be an all-school assembly right after the period ended. My first thought was, “What a horrible accident.” I was soon to learn that it was not an accident and that there was more.
During the assembly we were all told of the two planes that had struck the two World Trade Center towers and what was known so far about the entire unfolding situation. Students who had older siblings attending college, or relatives who were working, in New York City were understandably concerned. Many soon filled the school offices, or borrowed the then-rare cell phone of a classmate, to attempt to call parents to find out about the safety of family members. Others also wanted to leave school and go home if there was someone who could pick them up and stay with them. It was a day that was more devoted to support and comfort of everyone and thoughts of new instruction were far from everyone’s mind.
One of our assistant administrators was an Army veteran who had served during the war in Vietnam. He had seen more than his share of combat and had told some of his stories in my classes. We talked about how what he had seen and experienced during combat put him in the unique position on our campus of having been in a live war zone. My time volunteering as a firefighter during college also was unique in that I had been inside burning buildings. We each had some perspective and deeper understanding of the situation as more and more information was released to the public. We both understood that the fabric of our lives had been radically altered.
That night I sat in my living room and watched the news coverage of the attacks that ended in New York City, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, PA. It took many hours, and many more days, for me to assimilate those events, to mourn the loss of innocent lives, and to try to comprehend the evil that had been perpetrated. The good that came of that day was a unity across the U.S.A. that seemed to be stronger than any evil. Every day I pray that such a horrible event will not be the catalyst for that feeling of unity to return, but that we can find our way back to that on our own.