‘Remember when?’
moments can also be joyous
To the editor:
When I was very young, my parents and their friends would talk about where they were when memorable events occurred in our country. The assassinations of JFK, Martin Luther King, and John Lennon were always hot topics of the “where were you when this happened” discussions that would go long into the night. I wondered if anything like that would happen in my lifetime. Would I have “remember when?” moments to talk about with my friends? I didn’t have to wait long.
On Jan. 28, 1986 my entire fifth grade class at Westfield Elementary School watched with growing excitement as the Space Shuttle Challenger left earth with a teacher on board to explore space in person. We watched in horror when it exploded in the sky only a few minutes later. Many years later, Aug. 31, 1997, I watched the news report that Princess Diana had died due to injuries sustained in a car accident. I remember crying with my daughter in my arms. An earth angel was dead. Only four years later I watched in horror as the second Twin Tower was struck and heard the words “we are under attack” coming from the television.
9/11 means many things to many people. I think the memories of the day in our nation’s history may be different for everyone. I remember well the sadness, the grief and the horror I experienced. The overwhelming fear is an emotion I remember well. I was up for hours one night after a plane flew over my sleeping household. I wondered if the plane was ours or another country’s; where we under attack again?
Along with the fear, grief, sadness and horror though, I remember other just as powerful emotions. I felt an enormous amount of love; love for my life, my family, my country. I felt overwhelmed with the level of love I felt for the people of the United States. Strangers to me, but brothers and sisters in arms. I watched with amazement, as we stood tall together through those awful days and weeks that followed. Flags flew high, money poured in for the families of the victims, and the pledge of allegiance and our nation’s anthem brought tears to the eyes of millions, even the linebackers of the NFL.
Nine years later, the healing continuous. Construction is under way at “ground zero”, the field in Pennsylvania where flight 93 went down is considered Hallowed Ground, and our vice president honors the men and women who were killed on that day with a name reading ceremony each year. Today 9/11 means even more to me and to the small community I teach in.
For my personal life, Aug. 17, 2010 will never be the same. On that day, my small community almost lost one of our own. A former student and an amazing young man, Shayne Hathaway, was shot four times during an ambush on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. I learned of the event through Facebook, the only way his family could find of contacting me. It was a horrible night for many of us, and a long next day. Two days after learning he was injured, Shayne called me from Afghanistan to reassure me he was all right; he called me to reassure me he was fine. That is the man he is today.
This September 11, 2010, marked another milestone memory in my life; I welcomed Shayne home with dozens of friends, family, veterans, and members of our very small community. I will see him; I will hug him, and I will breathe deeply for the first time in many weeks. That day I remembered the grief, the fear, and the pride our people as a nation experienced, but I added the emotion of absolute gratitude for the force in the universe who protected Shayne, kept him safe, and kept him here with those who love him.
I acknowledge and respect that 9/11 for many people is filled with grief and pain. For a very small percentage of the population, this day will add two new very powerful emotions: pride and gratitude. After all, September 11th is a day of enormous and powerful emotions. I think we too often focus all of our energies on the negative impact memories, perhaps because there are so few positive ones. Event milestones often mark times of immense horror and grief.
I am happy to add one memory that isn’t. I will file today as one of the joyous moments in my tiny part of the world, and one I will remember for my entire lifetime.
Caribou
