9/11 – 25 Years of Enduring Grief

The fires at Ground Zero burned for 99 days after Sept. 11, 2001, finally being extinguished on Dec. 19. More than 2,000 children lost a parent that day. The New York City Fire Department saw 343 brothers and sisters perish in rescue attempts, along with 71 law enforcement agents. In the two decades since, more than 1,400 people who assisted in debris removal efforts have died from exposure to toxic airborne pollutants. We add names each year.

The Port Authority of NYC closed the George Washington Bridge as well as the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels. A lengthy segment of the NJ Turnpike was shut down, and commercial air traffic was grounded by President Bush. The Pacific and Atlantic Oceans were no longer reliable protection from the enemy. We quickly realized that the world-and the paths we formerly used to connect with one another-had changed forever. The term First Responder found a new and rightful meaning.

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In schools, administrators and teachers across the country carved out time to acknowledge the significance of this event in their classrooms. As months and years passed, teachers developed plans for teaching about these events in a sequenced manner, fostering understanding and building skills and knowledge through the use of films, short stories, songs and poetry.

This is the 25th anniversary of the terror attack. The landscape of education has markedly transformed, not only because of the passage of time but also due to the adaptations forced by the pandemic and the awareness of, and responses to, ongoing political tensions. A country that came together after 9/11, is now fractured. We embraced a "new" normal and we now date events as "pre" and "post" 9/11. As we return to school in a more "normal" manner this month, teachers must find ways to incorporate the new with the old as they teach about important events in our nation's history.

The following stories, told in various forms, can be used on their own or combined with other technologies to help students develop a meaningful understanding of the events of Sept. 11, 2001. With proper introduction, these resources (easily accessible on the internet) can be adapted for use at multiple levels.

"The Man in the Red Bandana," a fourteen-minute video narrated by Ed Burns, tells the story of Welles Crowther. Welles, an equity trader at Sander O'Neil in the South Tower of the World Trade Center, was also a fire fighter in Upper Nyack, New York. He saved as many as eighteen lives navigating stairwells and corridors using the hook and ladder skills of his training to carry others to safety, ultimately losing his own life on his third trip upward. The video available on YouTube, is a heart-wrenching portrayal of loyalty and selflessness.

"Let's Roll," by Jada Yuan, shares the backstory of United Flight 93. Originating from Newark and headed to San Francisco, the plane departed late after having been delayed by air traffic. The passengers realized in air that terrorists had hijacked their flight. Through phone calls to family, a number of passengers learned that three other large planes had crashed into the World Trade Center and Pentagon. A small group that huddled to determine the next step decided to storm the cockpit, following United Flight 93 passenger Todd Beamer as he cried out, "Let's roll!" The plane crashed at 10:10 a.m. in Shanksville, PA, killing all aboard. Further evidence indicated the flight was to be aimed as a missile at the Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Another emotional short story is the one of the final goodbye between Beverly Eckert and her husband Sean Rooney, who called from work at Aon, in the South Tower of the World Trade Center, around 9:30 a.m. Beverly conveys exhausting pain as she recounts the searing end of Sean's life. "Goodbye" is easily accessible on the Internet, and an excerpt of Beverly's recording in which she shares their final exchange can be found on the StoryCorps website. (https://storycorps.org/stories/beverly-eckert/)

Song has proven to be a convincing way to convey the array of emotions sparked by the events of 9/11. Alan Jackson's "Where Were you when the World Stopped Turning;" Tori Amos' "I Can't See New York;" Kristy Jackson's "Little Did She Know-(She'd Kissed a Hero);" and, of course, Bruce Springsteen's "The Rising" and "Lonesome Day" tell about the devil's day. The compelling lyrics and music videos present another way for students to process the heartbreak, grief, love and agony.

At the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum located at the World Trade Center in New York City, visitors delve into the events of 9/11 through a tour of the sacred memorial and a question-and-answer session. For those wishing to explore the events of the day through poetry, one suggestion is "The Names." Written by U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins a year after the attacks, "The Names" is a moving tribute to those who died, and a powerful reflection of the grief felt by many in the days following the attack.

Through writing, reading, singing, sharing, and listening, teachers will reveal how, as Cormack McCarthy stated, "scars have the strange power to remind us that our past is real." And in the retelling of the stories of our country's past, we invite today's students to draw connections to our present and honor the unique experiences and perspectives of those we honor.

Dennis Sevano was born and raised in Hoboken, where he served as a teacher and the Supervisor of Reading for the Public Schools. He is the former Assistant Superintendent of Paterson Schools. He writes frequently about education, sports figures and notables in the Mile Square City. He currently resides in Teaneck.