The Day the Towers Fell

I was backstage at Beckman High School working in the costume shop when the high school principal announced over the PA system that an airplane had struck the World Trade Center. It was a very warm, in fact beautiful fall day. At first I thought it odd the principal would make such an announcement. The band was outside on the football field working through their drill for the game on Friday night. Truth be told, it was a perfect fall day; and one that would completely unravel. I remember the frantic calls to Ann as the morning unfolded, all while wondering what would happen next as the FAA took the unprecedented step of grounding every aircraft flying over or on the way to the United States. 

We had only been married a couple of years at that point. I still have a picture from our honeymoon, one with Ann sitting on a small ledge when we visited Ellis Island. The Twin Towers framed behind her. 

Each year on this most solemn of days I recall with precision the events of September 11, 2001. At the time I was a vocal music teacher in Dyersville and had first hour prep. Indeed I have vivid memories of where I was and what I was doing when first learning of the attack. At the time none of us knew it was an attack, thinking it must have been some sort of horrible accident. Then I watched in shock as the second plane struck the south tower on live television; and at that precise moment understanding with unequivocal clarity that yes, we were most certainly under attack. And also in that horrible moment unaware that it would get much, much worse when the towers fell. 

Instruction stopped that day. As teachers we worked hard to keep our students calm. They asked questions. How could this happen, we have two oceans protecting us? Is Iowa next? We had no answers.

I am a bit surprised that I can still recall these details with as much clarity as I can. Because it has been 20 years. Twenty years! Indeed the years fly by. I was a young man then and the world as it was on September 10th was not the world we would wake up to on September 11th. The fact is, that world no longer exists. 

In the intervening years as the anniversary approached we would mark the milestones along the way: the year the 9/11 'babies' went to kindergarten. When they graduated. On this 20th year of remembrance I find a couple of things quite striking. First, there is not one student in our school who was even alive on that horrific day. The second, and perhaps more interesting [at least to me] is the generational divide amongst our faculty and staff. More and more of our faculty is made up of those who were too young to recall this event. While there were many of us who were busily at work, teaching school and going about our day: a growing number of our ranks were in diapers and blissfully unaware of what was going on around them. 

Now America's longest war has come to an end. It will be up to history to decide how this chapter of our story is portrayed. But no matter what, we must honor the sacrifices of so many men and women who gave their lives in service. Who vowed to hold those responsible who attacked us. 

As is the case each year, there will be numerous documentaries on television about this day. Some old, some new. If you are too young to remember, please don't scroll past them with your remote. Watch them. Ask one of your colleagues to share their memories of that day. And for those of us who were there, I would encourage you to watch as well. Talk about this day with your students. Its important that we #NeverForget.