September 11, 2006
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The Daily News
1 Today is the anniversary of the tragic bombing of the World Trade Center, an event so tragic, and so unforgettable that it emblazons itself in our minds every 11th of September. I always feel rather solemn and pondering each time this painful anniversary rolls around, as do many of you. I'm guessing that a great many of you remember exactly where you were that terrible morning in 2001. I was in the shower with water pouring over my head, getting ready for another go of it at YB.2 I recall a massive cleansing going on as the word came to me, and closing my eyes hoping what was coming over the radio was some sort of hoax. As the morning moved on, it was clearly a day like no other in our nation's history. Shadows of Pearl Harbor and JFK flew past, but this was happening now, today, 9/11, 2001.
3 The day moved on with horror after horror unfolding with terrible regularity. I pulled a television into my classroom and the students were left to watch, as stunned as everyone else. I recall silence. I recall disbelief.
4 And I remembered how much I really loved my country.
5 A few weeks ago, George Bush declared 9/11 Patriot's Day, or Patriot Day. I'm not sure which, but it just didn't seem to have the same feeling as anyone who went through those agonizing hours might reflect. We all felt patriotic, but in a different fashion. For many of us, it was our childhoods, our safety, our families, our friends, and our country that had been ravaged.
6 Several weeks ago I was given a memo from my principal mentioning Bush's declaration of 9/11 as Patriot's Day, or Patriot Day. The whole thing sort of put me off, because I have always kept my own personal thoughts and prayers rather personal, and while I do understand various memorials taking place all over, I felt the late notice and the jingoistic and almost opportunistic request for some formal form of declaration smacked a bit of political jingoism. A small ceremony unrelated to the Bush administration seemed appropriate to me. At my school, organizing anything beyond perhaps a flag ceremony and a moment of silence seemed enough, given the time factor, and given the solemnity of the moments that simply wouldn't go away.
7 Each year in my English and drama classes, I would show the CBS documentary 9/11, one of the best ever done. It is the film taken by the NYFD cameraman who happened to have his camera on that day. His documentary is over four hours, and is simply his camera following the entire day. It is riveting and more than anyone should have to bear.
8 And each year, I would also read a piece I wrote a year later. It was almost one year to the day when I had finished writing it, and I've shared it with not only my students, but with readers of the DN ever since.
9 It never was very Xanga friendly, which is a shame, because it was written completely from the heart. As I am writing this this morning, I am listening to a moment of silence, followed by a reading of the names of the people who were lost to us that day, and the list is being read in New York. It is exactly what this day is really about.
10 With that, I'll throw Patriot's Day over my shoulder. New York, and my own feelings for family and friends, and for my beautiful country, I shall keep.
11 Here is the piece. It isn't much, but I always will feel that 9/11 should always be something silent and meaningful. With that, I leave you with this piece. It doesn't even display beautifully, but it is everything it should be. This is my memorial to what we all lost on September 11, 2001:
Peace.~H~
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