Where I was on 9/11/01

I was a school teacher that year.

My wife and I had recently (about a week before) learned that she was pregnant with our first child.

I was in the classroom and a fellow teacher came in to tell us the news. She wasn't sure (no one was at this point) if it was an accident or terrorist attack.

I turned on the television set we had in our room and we were able to tune in just as the second plane hit the other tower. At that point there was no question we were under attack.

I taught high school in a self-contained classroom. I worked with children with Severe Emotional Disturbance and I made the decision to keep the news on for the day. I still don't know if it was the right thing to do, but I felt like we spent enough time studying History that had happened decades or centuries before, and this was History in the making. I wanted them to know they were experiencing something they would remember for the rest of their lives.

"Why are you watching this stuff?" the students asked.

"This is history. One day, people will ask you where you were when you heard abou this. One day your children will study this in their history books."

"Psshaw!" They scofffed. "That's what you said about the Monica Lewinski thing!"

Yeah. Go figure.