Lest We Forget...

Tomorrow marks the five year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. I will never forget where I was at during that terrible day. Having just made it to school, I overheard two teachers in the hallway talking. At that point, one of the towers had been hit, and many people were thinking it might have been an accident. I then heard someone say, no two planes hit the towers. I quickly turned on the television to see the burning buildings. I and the teacher across the hall watched in horror. I saw the buildings come down, and wondered what else would happen that day. I remember putting all the information on the board for my students and updating it as news became available. When my first class came in, most of them had not heard about it. I remember the looks on their faces as I did the best I could to explain to them the situation, realizing that none of us could fully grasp how terrible this event was.

In the days that followed, I was proud to see our country come together the way it did. For a brief moment in time, we all felt like brothers and sisters. We prayed for each other, cried for people we did not know, and leaned on one another. We learned that America can still pull together if it needs to. We cheered for the firefighters who gave their lives to save others. We heard about the bravery of those aboard flight 93, who took destiny into their own hands with the words, “Let’s Roll.” There were so many stories of so many people. The pentagon, the police. They were all heroes in every aspect of the term, and we must never forget the price they paid.