9/11 - We Will Never Forget
Three years ago I was covering another teacher's classes for the day when the school librarian came in and said "I have something to ask, but first do you know what is going on in New York? I got a strange phone call from a distributor asking the same thing." I replied that I didn't know and turned on the TV to see if CNN had any clue.
And they did. Throughout the day I would tune in for the last 30 minutes of each class so the students could watch events unfold. They complained but I told them my goal was for them to learn that despite adversity, life must go on. In one class several girls asked if they could go out into the hall to pray. Of course, I let them go and said I wished I could go, too. In another, one young man was wise-cracking about the event. His tasteless barrage was ended only when I quietly reminded him that he was of draft age and that this was the first of many attacks in a new war.
Most memorable is the class where we tuned in just in time to see the second plane crash. The student's silence was louder than if they had screamed at the top of their lungs. It drowned out the TV and everything but one big collective intake of breath. And then a tear was heard to fall like the eventual fall of the twin towers themselves. This was no accident. This was no documentary or mini-series. This was 28 kids growing up in an instant. And they knew it. God bless them. God bless us all.
Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.
Amen.
