1/ I’ve been letting my kids watch some of the news since the event they inadvertently witnessed on tv two weeks ago. I want them to see some parts, so that they always remember. Comments are welcome here. I have no idea what the magic potion is for parenting.

2/ I pool my students every year. Ask them to tell me what they remember about the 9/11 attacks. It’s been sad and informative for me personally - the differences in time zones, regions, country location, nationalities, ethnicities, races, religions, & especially age perspective.
3/ I’m grateful to start each semester that way. To hear the personal experiences of my students. Because it provides a foundation for how I try to teach that particular course. I’m old, but at least I am smart enough to know that I don’t know much, and I’m always learning.
4/ and if my students are too young to remember 9/11, then I ask them if it has affected them personally - their families and their loved ones. What I’ve observed about that tragic event, through the eyes of my students, is that the attack has rippled through generations.
5/ Like that horrible day, the only thing I am grateful for is that I have witnessed the events with my own eyes. So that I can remember, and try to explain it to others. And so that my kids will remember, and talk to me about it. But I am so heartsick with what I’ve seen.
6/ All of us have been on the border of anger, extreme sadness, fear, outrage, horror, ANXIETY, and disgust. But I just keep thinking about those 394,495 dead Americans, my father who could have very easily been one of them, and I wish they just still had a voice.
7/ & that’s not to mention THE WORLD. The disparate impact this virus has had on minority groups, those who are economically disadvantaged, as well as those who don’t have access to healthcare. It’s sickening. We’ll be unraveling this for decades to come. At least I pray we will.
8/ That’s my thought for the day. My opinion, only mine, it doesn’t represent the views of any organization I work for, have worked for, will work for, or any part of those departments, agencies, etc.

Just mine.
9/ Lived experience can be a powerful thing. And I don’t know much. But I feel this is an experience we owe it to others to try to explain someday. From our own individual perspectives, doing the best we can.

Wish you all well.

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