September 11th- Twelve Years After...

I sat down tonight and watched a few clips of 9-11-01 video from that fateful day. The horror I felt was just as sharp, just as clear, just as heart shattering as it was twelve years ago. Can it really have been twelve years?  Has that much time actually passed in the seeming blink of an eye?  Can we really be that far removed from that nightmare day?

My new students this year, the senior class of 2017, have no memory of the planes crashing, the people jumping, the towers falling, the Pentagon in flames... To the Class of 2017, September 11, 2001 is merely another footnote in history. They live in a world that was made that day. They know no other world. And I cry because of that.

But I remember. And those who lived through that day- who shed rivers of tears while riveted to  television sets anxious for any information, who knew that the world had set itself on a different spin, a different trajectory- when they (I) are gone and turned to dust will that day have any meaning other than a line or two in some history book?

As long as I live my heart will hurt and ache every September 11th. I know this as well as I know that something changed that day that can never be undone.