Hello virtual students,
As this past weekend was the twentieth anniversary of 9/11, I want to spend a little more time reflecting on a day that lives on in all our memories. Though all of you were born before that fateful day, the reverberations from what happened continue to affect all of our lives.
On September 11, 2001, I got to my job on the 42nd floor of the Leo Burnett building in downtown Chicago at 8am. As I always did, I spent the first half hour reading the news and listening to music. The moment I learned about the plane hiting the North Tower of the World Trade Center, a song titled, "The Aeroplane Over the Sea," was playing on my headphones. I'll always remember that.
Then, while my coworkers and I were wondering what exactly happened, we watched the second plane hit the South Tower. At that point, we all knew something terrible was happening.
We were all quickly evacuated in case another plane was headed to Chicago (There wasn't) and I found myself on the subway platform waiting for the train to take me home with literally everyone else working downtown that day. It was the most crowded any of us had ever seen the subway. We were standing shoulder to shoulder, completely packed in. But the thing that haunts me still is how quiet it was. Thousands and thousands of people all waiting together for their train, and you could hear a pin drop. I'll never forget it.
One plane didn't hit its target that day: United Flight 93 that left Newark, New Jersey headed for San Francisco. The plane was taken over by terrorists not far into its trip, who then turned the plane around and headed toward Washington D.C., possibly with the Capitol or the White House as the target.
But the brave men and women on that flight, who were on cell phone calls with their family and learned about the World Trade Center and a third plane that had hit the Pentagon, decided they weren't going to let the terrorists reach their target.
Their sacrifice is a story of American heroism. Their bravery saved countless lives, even though it was at the expense of their own.
So I'd like you to watch this movie, "Flight 93." Watch it on your own time, and on Wednesday, I'll email you all questions that we'll discuss when you come back.
A quick warning. This movie is very stressful and, of course, very sad. I encourage you to watch it with your parents or someone else, if you feel like you might need a hand to hold or a shoulder to lean on. Please watch it and remember all those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001, a day that changed America forever.
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