Wednesday, September 13, 2006
All this week on WORD, we are sharing our memories of 9/11. This is our tribute to those who were taken from us that day, as well as to the families, the survivors, and those many people involved in the rescue, clean-up, and rebuilding efforts. Here is a memory of that day from Sharon Jacobs, a Creative Writing teacher in Illinois. Click on the comments link at the bottom of this entry to share your own thoughts.
Together, we remember 9/11.
Misperceptions on my part ran rampant the morning of 9-11. I am a teacher in the midwestern town of Lemont, Illinois. First period started at 8:00 a.m. and I planned to take my Creative Writing class to the farmer's market downtown to purchase fresh fruits and veggies. All 24 of us were a bit giddy about holding class outside on this warm Autumn day...getting out of school was a definite plus! We marched downtown and literally plundered the wares of the marketplace. Students were laughing, tasting, writing, and trying to outdo each other in composing the PERFECT description of their experience. After 30 minutes of munching and writing we headed back to school. On our way back a  disheveled man in a pickup truck filled with odd objects stopped and started yelling at me to "get those kids back in school ... we're under attack!" Being the mother hen of this band of chicks I advised them to keep on walking and look straight ahead ... hoping the "crazy man" would just disappear. The man kept pace with us in his truck until we entered the school. Laughing we all commented on how "odd" this man was. Little did we know that as we were enjoying our field trip the world really had changed for us all. Our laughter turned into shocked silence as we were informed about the planes crashing into the twin towers, and then watched on our class television the other horrific events that followed.
I often think of the "odd" man who followed us back to school that day...making sure we arrived safely. That was my first experience with misperceptions that day. I perceived his intentions at first as "off the wall" yet he was merely trying to protect the children of this community.
Many misperceptions reared up that day - mine was just one. How quickly a warm September day chilled into frozen fear that has thawed little since 9-11.
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