September 11, 2008

I wanted to make a post today in remembrance of September 11, 2001 and all the men, women and children who have lost their lives that day and in days since from the war but I wasn't really sure what to say or post. Then on my way home from work I was listening to the radio and they were talking about how many public schools were not teaching kids about 9-11 "for fear of offending people". This offended me.

This morning started off when I got in my car and hear "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood. Very good song. I honestly think they should play it more often not just on 9-11 and D-Day and other related days. Another song that was played and always gets me but it really is a beautiful song is "Little Did She Know" by Kristy Jackson.But after the song I started listening to my regular morning DJs talking about how the NY Post and the NY Times did not feature 9-11 related stories on their covers today and how it seems people are getting to that "get over it" stage. I was shocked. The NY Times didn't have a story on their cover? Of all papers. I understand the moving on mentality but I think its easier said then done and I think that one of the big things that people from the NYC area don't have to help them with that is a memorial. Its in the works and I think that when it is completed it will be beautiful. I know I will go see it. But they aren't expecting it to be done until 2011, by the 10th anniversary. I think that once the city has that memorial it will give people the closure they need and I think it will be more accepted to not do big productions year after year although I imagine there will always be some sort of memorial and I think there is nothing wrong with that.

I have to say I was surprised to hear about the newspaper covers and so I even went online to look at their covers. I saw that the NYC Edition of the NY Times had a very small heading at the bottom of the front page that send something about photos from ground zero. However, the National edition did NOT have that same reference. The NY Post just had a little box at that top of the front page saying "Always remember" or something like that. I can say that if you went online to the NY Times website, there were articles and links to those articles right from the front page. I guess its cost effective enough to put online but not in print. I stopped at a store on my way to work today to pick up a newspaper. I didn't read it but I did want to see if the local NJ paper had coverage and for historical purposes I like to get papers from important days. I bought two. The NJ Star Ledger and the Daily News. Both had respectable covers and I was happy they had the respect for such a day. It struck me odd that those NY papers didn't put items on their front page especially since they normally will make references to when Pearl Harbor was attacked December 7th each year with side stories of veterans and related. So why not show the same respect on 9-11?

I am not sure if the local TV channels aired coverage of the tributes at Ground Zero, the Pentagon and Flight 93 in PA. I know that the local channels and CNN.com aired streaming live video of the events and I watched some of those during free moments at work. I had offered up to my students (All adults anyway) that if they wanted to spend their class time today looking up and reading 9-11 related news items they could and a few of them did. It was interesting to let them tell me about where they were and what they remembered too. I think with the technology we have today makes it easy to have those things available online even if they are not on live TV. It also makes it possible for people from all over the country, and the world, to watch as well.

Anyway, back to what got me started here which was hearing that some public schools did not want to teach about 9-11 because of "fear of offending". One of the callers into the radio show was a 13 year old girl who I thought was very insightful and correct in saying how we are supposed to teach kids history so that they can learn from it and not repeat it. In this day and age with people so afraid of "offending" this person or that person, if the holocaust had just happened they would try to find a way to not make it as "offensive" to others. I asked a few friends and family who I know have school aged children and I asked if their kids had been taught about it today. One said that it was taught but they observed a moment of silence and the other said nothing was mentioned at all.

It blows my mind that there are schools where it might not have been mentioned. I can understand maybe not teaching it in young kids classes but at least mentioning it or recognizing it still. And for other kids who are in elementary school or older, some of them lived it and the younger ones need to learn it. History is something we are supposed to teach so that we can learn from it. I think it is more offensive to not teach kids about it then to teach them fear offending some people. It IS history. It DID happen. And not teaching it is like not teaching kids about WWII or any of the wars for that matter.

I would like to say that I did also see some of the unveiling of the Pentagon 9-11 memorial and I thought it was very fitting and beautifully done. It is very symbolic in a very respectful way to all the victims from the Pentagon crash. If you would like to see more about it, Check this link on Cnn.com Pentagon 9-11 Memorial Cnn.com actually has a good number or related stories as well.

I am watching the Rutgers Football game tonight and I was pleased to see that they made mention of today's significance and took a moment to honor it.

What happened on 9-11-01 was a horrific tragedy that no one ever really expected could happen on US soil. But it did. And we can not forget, nor should we. All of the victims and their families and friends are in my thoughts today and all days.

*As a side note, I have some photos I took in Dec 2001 at ground zero. I felt it was important to document because it was a part of history. I do not have these photos made public because I don't want them exploited but if anyone who reads this would like to see them, let me know and I will send you a link*