Ten years ago, Judy and I had just moved to Ohio, and I was attending a conference in Florida on Sep 11th. I remember going back to my hotel room and watching as the World Trade Center towers were brought to the ground. It seemed surreal, as though it were a scene from a 1970s disaster movie. Afterwards, since there were no flights, I ended up catching a ride with people headed back to NY – they went quite a few miles out of their way to bring me home.
I was 1½ when President Kennedy was assassinated, so I have no recollection of where I was that day. I’ve heard people talk passionately about their experiences in WWII, the Great Depression, and Vietnam – I do remember Vietnam from the nightly news.
While others have written eloquently about the lessons and insights gained from 9/11, I want to make a much simpler point. Don’t expect people to remember what they don’t remember. We need to be careful that we don’t expect our children (certainly children the age of mine and younger) to have deep emotional connections to 9/11. And asking them to watch documentaries and interviews for the purpose of evoking a strong response is unrealistic. When people tell me I need to watch a WWII movie, I may learn something about our shared history and the bravery of those who have given their lives for our freedom, but I’m never going to connect to those events in any way comparable to those who lived through them.
So, let’s give the kids a break – they can’t remember what they don’t remember, and what they don’t remember will not have the same emotional impact that it does for those of us who will never forget where we were on that day.
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