Just Like Every Other Day

Okay, I know that I'm probably the millionth person to post about this today, but come on... September 11th... how soon we forget.

Most know that I'm an elementary teacher, so while we did have a moment of silence this morning, we all went about our day as normal.  It wasn't until I looked at my phone and saw that date while I was walking down the hall to the teacher's lounge that it hit me.  It felt like any other day.

Now, when I was a senior in high school, it was not any other day.  It was spending an entire day watching the television, calling my mom to make sure that they didn't go to that meeting in downtown Chicago (we didn't know what could have happened there...).  It was not understanding any of it.

A year later, I was a freshman at Millikin University, and I remember the candellight vigil we had right outside BWA to remember those that were lost.  The flags were at half mast and Rich Dunsworth read a passage from Corinthians to all of the students.  That didn't feel like any other day either.

So, when did it start to change?  When did I lose that feeling that this was a significant day in our history?  When does that happen?  I still remember a 5th grade class that I had last year that asked me about why this day was so important.  What are you supposed to tell a class of ten year old children?  I told them what I saw and where I was and why it was important.  They were actually interested.  I held their attention and you could hear a pin drop, and I was, in that moment so glad to be a teacher.

Today, I take a step back, reading something that my friend Katlin tweeted:

http://proxy.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?id=1251364

And then I realized that of my students, some of my third graders were born before the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  Some of my second graders have never been in this country when we were not at war.  And what is with the war anyway?  Why don't we hear about that anymore?  What is being done?  What's going on?  Anyways, these are just my thoughts... I felt the need to share them.

God Bless all, and even if it feels like every other day, take a step back and remember that it isn't...