September 11th, 2001


Nothing in my life compares to the feeling of September 11th, 2001, and I hope that nothing ever will again. Even though it's been many, many, years, the wound still burns, even for people like me who were just living ordinary lives, miles away from where it happened.

People who lived through that time have mixed feelings about talking about it. In a way, it's important to talk about, but it's also too painful, and too real, to talk about. Maybe future generations will see it like the bombing of Pearl Harbor, just something horrible that happened in history.

I had just started teaching a web design class at the local community college. It was September, after all, and classes had just met a few times. And since it was an evening class, I just walked around stunned all day, as I imagine most people did. And when I got to the class, I talked about web design. I guess some of the teachers talked about what happened, or what they thought happened, but that wasn't me. I talked about web design.

I was surprised that anyone showed up for the class, but people several did. They must have been like me, just trying to forge ahead, not knowing what else to do. I talked about web design. As a conscientious teacher I made sure that I covered material that made it worthwhile for the students who had gone to the trouble of making it to class, but I covered nothing that would affect anyone later on if they missed that class. When the class ended, I went home.

Then the sky became silent. There were no planes up there. I don't remember how long that went on, but it seemed like forever. To this day the distant sound of a plane makes me feel good. I can hear one right now, as I type this.

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