story20798.xml
Title
story20798.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2006-09-12
911DA Story: Story
Original Posting
Location: Jersey City, New Jersey
Comment:
Our high school in Jersey City is nearly opposite the WTC, just a short trip across the Hudson River. Ironically, our first written/discussed topic for yesterday was, "American History: Who Cares?" As expected, the kids wrote about how boring it is, and how it's , "...not about us, or things that happen around here." Today, from the vantage point of our east facing windows, all that has changed.....mario
***
I retired in 2004. I've been back a few times since then to visit friends who are still teaching. Each time I enter the building, I deliberately try to avoid looking towards Manhattan. But because the south facing main entrance is the required access, there is no choice but to look eastward. Each time I do so, I want to delude myself into believing that if I squint through the fog of passing time, I will see the Twin Towers still there. The illusion lasts but a second.
All the kids that were in my classes are now gone. The new faces will never know what that day meant to those of us who experienced the tragedy as it happened. Their relationship to that day will, at best, come from the voices of older siblings who lived it, or from the weak vicariousness of a textbook. And though I know that these are poor means of learning, I pray that they understand that lesson solely in these ways.
Location: Jersey City, New Jersey
Comment:
Our high school in Jersey City is nearly opposite the WTC, just a short trip across the Hudson River. Ironically, our first written/discussed topic for yesterday was, "American History: Who Cares?" As expected, the kids wrote about how boring it is, and how it's , "...not about us, or things that happen around here." Today, from the vantage point of our east facing windows, all that has changed.....mario
***
I retired in 2004. I've been back a few times since then to visit friends who are still teaching. Each time I enter the building, I deliberately try to avoid looking towards Manhattan. But because the south facing main entrance is the required access, there is no choice but to look eastward. Each time I do so, I want to delude myself into believing that if I squint through the fog of passing time, I will see the Twin Towers still there. The illusion lasts but a second.
All the kids that were in my classes are now gone. The new faces will never know what that day meant to those of us who experienced the tragedy as it happened. Their relationship to that day will, at best, come from the voices of older siblings who lived it, or from the weak vicariousness of a textbook. And though I know that these are poor means of learning, I pray that they understand that lesson solely in these ways.
Collection
Citation
“story20798.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed January 1, 2026, https://www.911digitalarchive.org/items/show/5369.