The biggest event so far in the lives of my generation was 9/11. This is the day that we will always remember what we were doing. Much like Pearl Harbor, or man walking on the moon for future generations, 9/11 is what will be forever imprinted on the minds of our generation. I was in 5th grade in 2001. My parents drove me to school that day like any other day. When I got to school, my teachers were all acting very strange. They kept leaving and going into the halls, talking to each other, and more or less doing no teaching what so ever. In my English class, three of the 5th grade teachers were in a corner of the room listening to the radio very quietly.
None of our teachers were allowed to tell us what was going on. When discussing this day with my contemporaries, I realized that this is not what happened in most schools. For most of my friends, their parents came and picked them up from school or school was cancelled all together. Teachers were much more upfront with them than my teachers were.
Walking out of the school, across the fields I was still carefree and happy. I did not realize anything in the world was different until I walked outside of the fence and spotted my mom’s car. Now this was not strange. My mom picked me up from school every day. No, the strange part was that my dad was sitting in the passenger seat. On that day, I could not remember another day when my dad had picked me up from school spontaneously. Occasionally he did, but I always knew about it before I left for school that morning. Mom would remind me that my dad was picking me up from school, and to be patient if he forgot and was running late. It was after I got into the solemn car that my parents told me what happened. I did not understand the true consequences of that day until I had grown many years older though.
I agree that everyone in our generation will remember exactly what happened on that solemn day. As you guessed, my school handled it differently than yours and called together a school assembly. I was in fourth grade at the time, and had no idea what had happened. It was, like you said, a normal day up until that point, but that changed immediately. Although I did not understand the true severity of that day at the time, it was clear how tragic the actions were when looking at the reactions of my elders.
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