What happened? Why? Why was it significant?
To prepare for class, please watch the first three minutes of this Charlie Rose show from the evening of 9-11-01. You should watch up to the point where Charlie Rose asks:
“How many casualties? Who did it? How will the
Think about those last two questions for class tomorrow. How did the United States respond to 9-11? And what has that event done to the nature of American life six years later? You don't have to do any research or write anything - just think about it.
There's a little-known event that I think does a good job of capturing the mood of the country about a week after 9-11. President Bush was giving a speech to Congress, and the speech happened at 9 p.m. That happened to be intermission between the second and third periods of a hockey game in Philadelphia.
Read this account of what happened in Philly and how the president's speech led to the end of the game. Then, once you have some context, listen to the first two minutes of this radio broadcast.
For more context, see this report from the NewsHour on PBS.
Again, the questions I'd like to focus on for Tuesday are:
1. How did the United States respond to 9-11?
2. What has that event done to the nature of American life six years later?
21 comments:
Every year, I feel as if this just happened yesterday. I'm tired of our world being this way and certain "leaders" not valuing life. This is something that is happening and has happened throughout the world before and if we don't punish terrorism then it will keep spreading and happening. Because I value life, even if it's one casualty, it's enough for it to be bad--each life counts.
It is very sad and depressing to me that there are countries like Israel that are constantly under the risk of having a terrorist attack. Every day when families say good bye to each other, they pray that they will see each other again. --this shouldn't be the way people have to live.
I agree with you completely, Maia.
Like Mr. Goldberg mentioned, we were only in third grade when the attacks took place. I remember our teachers took us outside and gave us an extended recess. They said something about "some stuff happened. Adult stuff. We'll tell you later" We had recess for several hours, I remember. I thought something really good had happened. I remember saying "Whee, extra recess!"
The next day, my parents and third grade teachers told us the truth. I felt horribly guilty. Death is never good--but death in this quantity, horrible. My little third-grade mind couldn't really comprehend the political, military, or economic impact of the event...but I knew that something bad had happened. Horribly bad.
And six years later, I still remember...and feel guilty about...what I was thinking the day it happened. "Whee, extra recess."
Rock on Maia! haha
I was going to share this story tomorrow, however I would like it to be a topic people can comment about. Most of us were in the third grade when this horrible event occured, It's one that will truly never be forgotten. September 11, 2001 I remember being outside on the playground and seeing my teachers run around whispering into other teachers' ears. Not knowing what was going on friends and I kept playing a game of tag. The teachers called us in and we were seated back in our seats. They explained how there was a terrist attack and that we shall be sent home early. As my mom picked me up she, pulled over and told me in a crying manner how my dad was to have a meeting in the twin towers at percisely 9 am. He was suppose to board his plane but we had not heard from him. She tried calling and calling but no answer. Later that day he called saying his phone had died but he did not board his plane because of a delay.
I cannot imagine not having my dad here today. I can't...end of story. So to those who take life for granted, I hope 9/11 changed your ways because I know it did for me.
I also agree with maia how she feels this event occured very recently. I believe its because its an event that shouldnt be forgotten because of the horrorific and castrophic feelings it produced. It is a hard topic to reflect on because its so broad, but I do believe it is something that should be remembered as an awful day in history.
First of all, I would just like to say that I don’t remember taking 911 seriously when I was in 3rd grade. I think our school only got out about 30 minutes early, if we got out early at all. A lot of people told me they remember their teachers turning on the tv and having the class watch the news. When I was in 3rd grade, no one knew what was going on, or at least no one in my class. I know my parents told me about it but all I remember is asking a bunch of "3rd grader" questions like "Did the terrorists attack on 911 on purpose because it's the number we call when we need the police?" or "Why didn’t the people on the planes fight back?" I never actually saw footage of the event until a few years later when my friend's dad show us some videos of all the people jumping off the top of the towers because they knew they were going to die anyways (by the way I found those videos to be really disturbing) Hearing and actually understanding what had happened really put in that "What would I do if I were in that position" I would spend forever trying to come up with ways I would have survived and for once, I couldn't really find a way that I would have dealt with the situation better than the people on the planes.
General Wesley Clark in Little Rock Arkansas spoke about the event and what needs to be done in the future about these attacks and about who is responsible. He says, "Well, we know something about the terrorist network…but do we know enough? We know that it's composed of hundreds of individuals and dozens of different shadowy organizations that are inter-related. We know they've got base areas in various places. We know there was a lot of cooperation and work put together to pull this attack off. We didn't get any advanced warning apparently of it. We couldn't break it up. We've got to build a consensus and the we've got to go after this terrorist organization. Now, just continue for a moment with the Pearl Harbor analogy…if it is a Pearl Harbor, then Americans are going to be asked to sacrifice to do something about this and there will be sacrifices imposed on us…but it's also going to be a really long-term struggle, not something that is going to be taken care of by a couple of cruise missile strikes"
General Clark mentions Pearl Harbor in relation to 911…maybe because of the fact that after Pearl Harbor happened, the US really woke up a realized we need to step in.
Iraq/ Pearl Harbor- Iraq was the result of these terrorist attacks and now they are being widely criticized but in Pearl Harbor (as it was compared early on by lots of people…just like General Wesley Clark said, "Now, just continue for a moment with the Pearl Harbor analogy") the same sort of thing happened in a sense that the US ignored a situation for a long time (isolationism) and then we finally got a wake up call (Pearl Harbor), and we got involved in WWII. What would have happened if we had not stepped in and got involved in the long-term battle? Would Hitler have taken over and had his dream of an "aryan race"?
Just as in Pearl Harbor…What would have happened if the US had not gotten involved in Iraq?
Just wondering...
Thats a good point emma, and I agree with maia too!
I was katelyn's class in third grade and the thing I remember the most was that they gave us a white envelope and told us we couldn't open it and that it was for our parents. When I got home and gave the envelope to my parents they read the papers inside the envelope they took me into their room and explained what had happened. Just like katelyn I felt bad about thinking yay for recess, but I was a third grader I didn't really think about it as deaply as I should've.
During 9/11, I had a totally different experience.
My family was living in Romania, which is in Europe and is, obviously, on different time. My mom and dad always sat my sister and I down to watch the news, BBC usually, to see what was happening. I was complaining about being bored and so was my sister. Then the screen of the TV quickly moved to the twin towers falling. My parents and sister and I watched silently as they fell on live TV. We didnt move from those spots for quite a while. We were so worried about our friends and we wanted to be able to contact them asap, but, being in Romania, things like that are a little difficult. I remember being so scared for the next couple of days about my family, friends and cat. Our romanian friends baked us food and hung with us, they gave my sister and I little chocolates. They were so kind to us. I remember hearing something about a school's feild trip to the World Trade Center, but I couldn't remeber if they got out safely or not. It was so very scary to be completely clueless like that.
I think that i am one of the few that fully understood it that day. i remember that i was at Heartwood Montesorri, the same class as Alisha Gumber and Katelyn Linker. We had our school at a church and the pastor came in and said to our teacher "have you heard". I instantly knew that something was wrong. the second they turned on the TV i remember seeing the second plane crash into the World Trade Center at 9:03. Being a 3rd grader i didn't totally understand. I knew something bad had happened and we were told someone had attacked our country and that a lot of people have died. i remember watching at both towers fell and when the plane hit the pentagon. at home my dad explained it fully to me. I have a relative that used to work in one of the World Trade Centers. She worked on the 93rd floor. i remember this and how badly it scared me. i agree with Maia that no one should go through this. we found out half a week later that she had was going in late to work that day. it all happened before she got to New York City. God was looking out for her that day. It just makes realize how lucky we all are that we were not in those buildings. it just as easily could have been us.
I agree that these events were very horrible and that there could have been ways to prevent these things from happening. But I also stronlgy believe that the US has overreacted in Iraq. Does it really take almost 7 years now to establish a safe government in Iraq or did we just make it worse? Before the US invaded Iraq they had peace among themselves. It is arguable that it is a dictatorship and is not really a "good" peace but it's still peace nonetheless.
It seems that the US has taken a liking to try and fix things that usually can't be fixed. We went into Vietnam and did nothing for that country. If anything we just wasted time and precious lives. We did the same thing in Africa. If anyone has seen the movie Black Hawk Down they know what I'm talking about. Now the US has done the same thing in Iraq. They have brought turmoil and chaos to yet another place in the world.
I do believe that as 3rd graders we couldn't fully understand what happened that day, but today it's time to take action. When we experience something as awful as that we have different reactions. Some of us feel angry, some feel sad, and some just try to block it out. I personally think it's best to mourn our losses and take charge against letting anything like this happen again.
However, I wanted to put a thought out there. If, after being attacked, you attack out of retaliation, aren't you just causing another retaliation? It seems to be a neverending cycle and you would think it would be better to stop the cycle. But if a country didn't retaliate, and, thus, continue the cycle, it would probably get attacked more often. It just seems like a neverending problem to me.
Well about the Iraq issue, I think we've kind of lost focus on our main goal in Iraq. If we are pursuing terrorism, it doesn't look that way to me. We do have a legitimate reason to attack terrorism but they haven't done much besides inhabit Afghanistan and Iraq.
It was really horrible on that day. I did watch the people jumping out of the buildings and it was really scary even as a 3rd grader not knowing much. I felt really bad for everyone involved.
Like Cailey, I was also in a different time zone and everything happened before I got to school. But after reading everyone else's comments I found it strange that you all were shielded from the news. In my class room for the first hour of class we were watching the news about the towers. We also disscussed the topic a little. And I also completely agree with Maia, for the people in the Middle East everyday is a terrorist attack and that's not right.
Since we were in 3rd grade i feel that it is almost impossible for us to have fully grasped the concept. As I have gotten older, I look back and can remember the exact day that I was told by my 3rd grade teacher. At first I had no idea what the twin towers were. But as I am older I understand the concept. I have visited Ground zero, and it is an amazing site to see. I feel that 9/11 should be an official holiday because so many Americans lost their lives and it is a very sad day for many people.
I agree with Andrew. We have lost the focus of our main goal. Daily we are losing troops. Is this really to help the war on terrorism and the people of Iraq or is it just to protect our oil interest?
I just read that there is an Emergency Alert System (EAS) so that if something terrible happens, like 9/11, then the President can speak to the US within 10 minutes. However, during 9/11 the EAS was never activated. Why was that? It would have helped immensely with communication and organization after the attacks, and there wouldn't have been as much confusion afterwards from false stories being published.
I don't remember 9/11 too awfully well because I was never really informed about it. I remember the teachers talking about something, but we were never told what. It worried me, because I knew something bad had happened but no one was saying anything. I only really got an idea of what was happening when I got home and watched the TV, but the events were still not fully explained to me. I think that even though we were only in third grade, everyone should have been told exactly what happened right at the time. Everyone might not have fully understood, but everyone had the right to know what happened.
When the terrorist attacks happened my school didn't tell me anything. I hadn't a clue what had happened. The teachers felt it was up to our parents to tell us. Personally I wanted to know what had happened, but I can understand that the teachers did not really know what to tell us. Nothing had happened like this before and no one suspected it to happen. We did not get to leave early and class just continued on with a little break for the teachers to get information. I remember the teachers were all talking and they looked really worried. We could feel the tension in the air even though we were only in the third grade and didn't have a clue.
When I got into the car my mom told me what had happened. I didn't know what to think. Honestly I don't think I understood anything that had happened. Then my mom told me that my dad had been in Pennsylvania, the only thing was that we didn't know where he was. That made me really worried. On top of that my grandpa had died the day before 9-11. So much happened that week. But now we all remember that fateful day that changed our lives forever.
I wasn't in school at the time of 9/11 (track-out), I was at my babysitter's house. She told me around ten in the morning that some people had crashed a plane into the Twin Towers, and that they had fallen. I didn't really know what to think; like a lot of people have said, it's hard for a third grader to grasp something that big. I didn't really realize what was going on until later that day.
About half a year or so later, I was in the car with my dad, and a song came on. It is based on 9/11, more specifically on the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. It's about a woman whose husband was on the plane, and it's called Little Did She Know (She'd Kissed a Hero), sung by Kristy Jackson. I couldn't find a video of it, but here are the lyrics:
He found some socks
She chose his tie
And when he left for work that morning he was just another guy
Going to work
He'd have to fly
Out to a meeting in L.A. so she had kissed him twice goodbye
Little did she know she’d kissed a hero
Though he’d always been one in her eyes
But when faced with certain death
He’d said a prayer and took a breath
And led an army of true angels in the sky
Little did she know she’d kissed a hero
Though he’d always been an angel in her eyes
Putting others first, it’s true
That’s what heroes always do
Now he doesn’t need a pair of wings to fly
The phone had rung
His voice was calm
Before he could tell her anything she knew something was wrong
I love you so
The last words he’d said
She said I love you too
And then the phone went dead
Little did she know she’d kissed a hero
Though he’d always been one in her eyes
But when faced with certain death
He’d said a prayer and took a breath
And led an army of true angels in the sky
Little did she know she’d kissed a hero
Though he’d always been an angel in her eyes
Putting others first, it’s true
That’s what heroes always do
Now he doesn’t need a pair of wings to fly
I was also in the same class as Liz and Katelyn, and thinking back it bothers me that our teachers handled it that way. I don't feel guilty though, because there is no way we would have known, since our teachers chose to exclude us and tell us that we weren't old enough to know what was going on yet. But focusing on the issue of Iraq, I think the main question here is why are we still there? It's been seven years, and if we went into Iraq to fight terrorism, why are we now establishing a government there? And if we're fighting terrorism, why are we only in Iraq when there is terrorism going on everywhere, including in the USA? Think about how many gangs we have in America- that's terrorism too, and it is also having a direct effect on our country, and our people. Even with the terrorism that isn't occurring in our country, or terrorism that doesn't affect our people, no one should have to deal with that. Darfur, School of the Americas, these are just examples of some sort of terrorism that is alive today, but not centered in the Middle East. And we are still there...why? Terrorism by definition is the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion. That means that even simple bullying can be terrorism, so we shouldn't be focusing on Iraq if it's not going to help end terrorism quickly and effectively.
Also, there's a remix to the song Heaven by DJ Sammy that's about 911...it's pretty sad.
Lyrics: http://www.lyrics007.com/DJ%20Sammy%20Lyrics/Heaven%20(911%20Remix)%20Lyrics.html
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3VZ9g2QPO4&mode=related&search=
(there are a couple of different ones)
9/11 was a very tragic event for the United States. The United States has been responding to 9/11 since it happened. There has been tons of help sent, many lives lost, many families devastated, and the whole country in shock. It was a surprise attack. As soon as it happened, the whole New York fire and police staff was sent on the site to help rescue people. There were many funerals held, many memorials put up, and the whole American population was very supportive, generous, giving, and patriotic. This event has changed a lot of American lives, procedures, policies, and security measures. The security measures in airports, schools, and many other places have been greatly elevated. America is always on the watch, as well as many other countries that are in fright of a surprise attack such as 9/11 happening to them. Some schools I have visited have security check-ins before you enter the school, malls. Now in the airports they say try and get there 2 hours ahead of time because security can be so extensive. I think the Philadelphia hockey team was very respectful, kind, and patriotic. I was a very honorable thing to do. The crowd was so energetic and supportive as well.
I just wanted to comment towards Alex Evans thoughts. Okay so I'm not saying that I fully support George Bush, but do you REALLY think that a goverment can be established and running succesfully in a couple of months or something??? Look at America how long have we been here and our goverment still is working towards becoming more succesfull in desicions and military. The troops are still there so we can regain the strength we lost. Like I said above I dont trust George Bush with my heart however I do believe that when America elected George Bush as our president we should support him in every step of the way. Can you imagine making desicions that could either hurt our country and its people or ignoring the issues and living on in "perfect Peace - such as 9/11". That may have sounded really confusing but I hope this opens your minds a bit.
I deffinitly agree with Emily. Responding to Alex: I think that we should have gone into Iraq because people were being killed my their own leader. Saddam Hussein wouldn't let change occur. If another country didn't step in many more people would have been killed under Saddam Hussein's rule. Today it is bad that there is chaos in Iraq but we have taken steps and we are trying our hardest to put their government back together. They needed our help to get rid of Saddam Hussein because if anybody tried to rebel, he would kill them.
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