Just Another Week: What Do You Remember About 9/11?

The question was simple enough, but it still caught me off guard, probably because of who was delivering it.

Last Friday, my 10-year-old began talking about the 25th anniversary of 9/11, something his class surely was discussing in school. Then he looked right at me and asked what I remembered. 

I wasn’t prepared for the question, but the answer came out easily. 

I remember being in study hall when the phone rang and Arcadia High School history teacher John Berg answered. Typically, when the phone rang in study hall, it was because a student was in trouble. We all listened, and I will never forget hearing Berg say, “Oh my God.”

My first thought was that whoever was in trouble must have done something really bad. But Berg rushed to the front of the room and turned on the cube-shaped television hanging in the corner, hurriedly telling the class that the World Trade Center had been hit by an airplane. 

I was with Berg again the next class, this time for U.S. History. We sat and watched the news, eventually learning that it was a terrorist attack. I don’t think we did a single second of actual schoolwork that day. 

I remember getting on the school bus — I had my driver’s license, but not yet a car — and even the elementary school students seemed to understand that something significant had happened, though I’m not sure anybody actually grasped what that was quite yet.

When I returned home, I immediately turned the news on. My family and I watched until we just couldn’t anymore. 

We have become accustomed to saying “never forget” when it comes to 9/11, but I think those of us who remember that day have a responsibility to teach future generations about it.

Last Saturday, I made a point of taking my curious son to Soldiers Walk in Arcadia. He has been there many times before — it is among his favorite places — but I had never seen him study the 9/11 monument the way he did that day. I hope the memories I shared will stay with him.