Impact of 9/11 Continues 13 Years Later
Those in high school now are the last of younger generations alive at that time (the freshmen this year were born in the year 2000). 9/11 continues to be commemorated and taught in classrooms with reverence, and rightly so.
I’ll never forget our 9/11 unit my sophomore year – sitting in a classroom full of my peers, intently watching an unsettling documentary of one of the few attacks on U.S. soil. The silence in the room was undeniable. As each student left the classroom somberly that day, I found myself attempting to conjure up a time in the future when 9/11 would be taught to those who were not around to feel its impact first-hand.
Following 9/11, I witnessed the world change. Even if I did not understand the full implications at the time, air travel would never be the same again and there was a constant state of tension.
Rather than suggesting that there has been a recent resurgence of terrorism-related fear, one might argue that that fear has never really faded in the 13 years that have passed.
“[9/11] ignited a war in which we grew up in, and the war against terror was honestly impossible to entirely win. I think we were also very scared as to how many American lives were lost and how such important American landmarks, such as the twin towers, were taken down with them,” said Urbana High School Senior Katie Carroll.
That fateful morning, this nation was stunned into silence and grief. Today’s high school students, preparing to venture into the adult world and improve upon it in some way, were children then. Now, they are faced with a country still battling with these threats.
A time so fresh in the minds of this country maintains relevance today. However, when these experiences become lessons in a history textbook – taught in brief class time allotments – how will younger generations grasp the gravity of the situation? Those who were not born yet at the time of 9/11 will learn about that catastrophic day that set into motion the chain of events since.
How can teachers adequately explain and pay homage to an event that even those directly affected by it struggled to comprehend? The impact of that day and the lives lost must not be forgotten. Furthermore, the nation can learn, grow, and take action to commemorate and improve the future of the world.
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