 | I heard the news about the terrorist attacks as I was driving to my work site in LAUSD around 7am and thought that Bill Handel was making some kind of a fake Orson Wells Mars' Invasion type of broadcast. Then it sunk in that it was real. Shocking and stomach sickening feeling....hard to even drive and yet wanting to listen to the radio-but too graphic. I was grateful for having a cell phone to call home and tell my daughter and husband to turn on the tv and listen.
At school students said that we were at war. I asked, "Who are we fighting?" They said they didn't know and I said that we would work together to try to find out as the government was too. My classroom tv didn't have any rabbit ears to get reception but later we got some sound, but no clear picture which may have been good. Only one class saw some of the news since the district gave a directive for all tv's to be turned off. My students wanted to discuss the situation and understand which is what education and life is all about for us. I was impressed with the maturity of my middle school students but we had the luxury of being thousands of miles away from the actual events. One girl came up to me privately and said that her stomach hurt and she was frightened. I was glad for her to reach out for help and to be there for her.
Later my own children at home were impressed with the people who stood in line to give blood and that so many people came forward to help those who were hurt. What a tragedy for so many lives to be lost and hopefully, there will be much less than the 50,000 mentioned as the number of employees in the World Trade Center.
Kiss and hug your family today and every day! I need to do that more. This morning I read the cell phone message of the airline stewardess who called her husband to say that she loved her boys and him. What a wonderful tribute to her love for them and a lesson to us all. We all need to be more sensitive to other human beings we love, have contact with, and can influence.
Thanks for listening, Teacher too. |
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