Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Recent Events/Remembering 9/11

Well, we're figuring out this whole blog thing and figured it'd be a good time to do it, as there is much about which to keep you all informed.
Brent has started his senior year at BYU and is now interviewing for medical schools all over the country. Last week he interviewed at the U. of Virginia in Charlottesville and absolutely loved it. Yesterday he interviewed in St. Louis and...well, he still loves Virginia! He looks forward to interviewing later this month in Bethesda, Pittsburg, Phoenix and Tucson.
I'm about a month into my first real teaching job at Diamond Fork Jr. High School. I teach six periods of Spanish a day to really wonderful kids. The other teachers are great, the administration is great, and I don't have much of a commute. We've really been blessed. I'm exhausted by the end of each day, and the paperwork is never-ending, but every day's a fiesta!
Today I dedicated some time in class to discussing 9/11 with kids that we're in 2-3 grade when it happened. It was interesting to see how little it meant to them. On this day I've pondered the heroism of those who demonstrated the true American spirit by stepping into the flames to rescue the thousands of innocent civilians that had been victimized that day. We were wounded as a nation, but in commemoration of that day we should remember the strength born out of tragedy and strive to maintain it. That experience was made so real to me when, at BYU-Idaho in the fall of 2002, I performed in the world premiere of "Hole In The Sky," a play written about that day and the experiences of those trapped high in the towers. It put a face on the tragedy for those of us far from the reaches of New York City, and was an experience we shall never forget. I was in Kunming, China playing my guitar on 9/11/01 when the first plane hit. Where were you that day?

2 comments:

stacey said...

I was just in my dorm at BYU getting ready for my 9 AM Book of Mormon class when I found out about everything. I am from DC as you know and there were all sorts of problems with phones; I couldn't get a hold of my family until that afternoon, well after things had happened. That was a tough second week of college for an 18 year-old, but I learned that it was time to grow up, I guess. I spent the whole rest of the day in a daze, went to the prayer meeting in the Marriott Center, and prayed with my roommate in our room and really felt comfort. Pres. Hinckley had given the CES fireside two days before and I really remembered what he said about being optimistic and seeing sunshine through the clouds. Check out our blog sometime!

Melinda said...

So I just got your blog address so I'm reading archives. I was in Aural Skills 1 when I heard about it. During the actual occurrance, I had been in a practice room (yes, practicing at 6am, that was a horrible semester!). I thought you were AMAZING in "Hole in the Sky" and I think that play should go Broadway.

I know what you mean about 9/11 meaning so little-I had 7/8 graders this last school year who would have been in 1st/2nd grade at the time. That realization makes the fact that 4 entire generations of peace passing after the coming of Christ to the Nephites all the more amazing, if an impact as big as 9/11 can barely last one now.

The other thing is how little "war" means now. I think about it and my daughter was born during the war and her whole life, a war has been going on. Not a world war, but still a war. But it doesn't feel like war has been described for like Vietnam, Korea, and the World Wars. It just doesn't affect people as much. It's kind of sad.