September 11

I was upset with myself Friday morning when I realized that I had forgotten it was September 11. A few days earlier, I was very aware that Friday was September 11 in part because the 8th grade history teacher across the hall was preparing her now-annual first lesson "What September 11 Means to Me". And I found myself wondering where was the tipping point on this event for our students...these current 8th graders were probably in kindergarten on September 11 2001. Did they have a memory of that day and would they be able to effectively express what it means to them? I'm guessing not. I'm sure the teacher makes it meaningful to them, but the bottom line is that this event probably doesn't carry personal meaning to them or any students coming up behind them.

This fading of event trauma is normal and likely healthy. One of the blogs that I like to read recently did a very nice post along these lines. The Occasional CEO wrote "9/11 and the National Memory". I strongly encourage you to read it. He puts historical events in our lifetimes in perspective in an enlightening way: such tidbits as when a mouse used to indicate a 4 legged critter rather than an electronic extension of our fingers.

He likens this shift to a snake shedding its skin. Out with the old and in with the new. Regrowth. Renewal. I was reminded of Amy's experience at the zoo this summer. Apparently boa constrictors need some extra help shedding all their skin--especially around their eyes. So she found herself helping the staff remove old skin from around this constrictor's eyes. Huge "Blecch" factor aside, it's not unlike how such memories get lost. There is some natural fading and shifting but we (society) assist that fading and shifting in many ways. We are picking the skin away so new skin can grow when we forget or fail to pause and remember. A survival technique, yes but it seems criminal to let that day go by without some remembrance.

I was 7 when President Kennedy was shot. Most definitely the defining event of its time. I vaguely remember seeing the funeral on television but have no other specific memories of that day in school or the days that followed. Eight years later I certainly could not have written a meaningful essay on "What President Kennedy's Assassination Means to Me". Present tense. Still meaningful. But I feel certain my teachers could have. And my parents. So perhaps today's 8th graders see September 11 not as video-like memories running through their minds but more as how it is commemorized today. And I'm afraid they did not see much evidence that we remember. Neither did I on the following anniversaries of the President's assassination.

A number of articles in the paper the next day talked about how some places held remembrance events and others did not. Specifically it mentioned that no recognition was given at Ryan's football game in Bainbridge. I was grateful the game wasn't in Harpursville or I'm pretty sure we would have been in the same boat. I guess this puts me in the same camp as those campaigning to have September 11 be marked as a Day of Remembrance. Because it affected me. Because it's still vivid in my memory. But I forgot Friday was September 11 until well into the day. I guess I also helped peel away the dead skin of that day.