Certain events become the ones that people remember where they were when they learned about it. For a previous generation it might be when Pearl Harbor was bombed. One that sticks in my mind from when I was a child was when President Reagan was shot. I was so surprised when I got home from school and found out that my grandmother from New York who was visiting us at the time in Texas and my mom didn't know it had happened. As a young child, it made me feel pretty special that I knew something before them, and then I remember my mom letting us stay up late watching tv to hear the updates on his surgery and such. There was only one other time I remember her letting us stay up late to watch the news, and that was for Princess Diana's wedding. When I've asked my college students to reflect on what significant event they recall from their childhood, the "older" students will speak of when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded. Younger college students will often mention Columbine or 9-11-01.
I certainly remember how I learned about 9-11. I was a principal at the time, and a parent called us at school to tell us about it. I immediately turned on the radio in my office, and the speculations at the time were more horrifying than what actually happened in terms of how many people they thought had died and how many other planes they thought were out there about to do similar things. Our middle school students were on an overnight field trip (outdoor education). Some parents were wanting them to come home early; I assured the parents that the children were in an extremely safe location as there was no way their location was a target for terrorism (out in the middle of nowhere). They were due to come home that evening. I called the outdoor education center, and it turned out the staff there knew nothing about it yet, which made sense as radio and tvs aren't exactly part of an outdoor education experience. We made the decision to not tell any of the children in our building (preschool through 5th grade) so that their parents could be the ones to tell them, but we decided the middle school teachers would tell their students about it on the way home on the bus. Interestingly enough, there was a meeting held a couple of months later for all the principals in the area (public and private schools alike), and it turned out that ALL of us independently made the same decision. Not one elementary principal authorized their students being told, and in fact they went to great lengths (indoor recess, altered bus routes, etc.) to ensure that they weren't told at school, and ALL of the middle and high school principals told their students at school.
Going back to the actual day, I recall walking into the lunchroom and telling the teachers about it at lunch. One teacher asked me if this was a practical joke or something (which if you know me very well, that would be very out of character for me). They were stunned. I remember couple of days later seeing a first grader playing with legos in the classroom renacting an airplane running into a building. Although it was very frightening to hear the initial speculations, it actually then made the "real" numbers seem not as bad as they were a small fraction of what they said in the beginning, although of course it still was a very, very sad day. I remember that a lot more parents than usual came to pick up their kids from school that day (rather than letting them take the bus as they usually did), and quite a few picked their children up early.
Paul and I had been married for exactly 1 month on the day it happened, and I can remember being annoyed that Paul wasn't more comforting. I was wanting a nice big hug, and he was very analytical rather than emotional about the whole event. He promptely reminded me that he had worried about this happening. Actually I hadn't needed his reminder. I had told my secretary earlier that day that Paul had said this might happen. When we had been near really high skyscrapers (such as the Empire Building in NYC), he had told me he had no interest in going to the top because this was a target for terrorists. He said this years before it actually happened. His response on 9-11 was more along the lines of "it could have been worse." Men are from mars and women are from venus as the saying goes. I'm grateful that we haven't yet experienced another attack of this magnitude on our soil, and I hope many more years (or better yet decades) take place before such a tragedy occurs again. It will be interesting to note in 20 years what is "the event" that my children will remember where they were when they found out about it.
Certain events become the ones that people remember where they were when they learned about it. For a previous generation it might be when Pearl Harbor was bombed. One that sticks in my mind from when I was a child was when President Reagan was shot. I was so surprised when I got home from school and found out that my grandmother from New York who was visiting us at the time in Texas and my mom didn't know it had happened. As a young child, it made me feel pretty special that I knew something before them, and then I remember my mom letting us stay up late watching tv to hear the updates on his surgery and such. There was only one other time I remember her letting us stay up late to watch the news, and that was for Princess Diana's wedding. When I've asked my college students to reflect on what significant event they recall from their childhood, the "older" students will speak of when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded. Younger college students will often mention Columbine or 9-11-01. 
I certainly remember how I learned about 9-11. I was a principal at the time, and a parent called us at school to tell us about it. I immediately turned on the radio in my office, and the speculations at the time were more horrifying than what actually happened in terms of how many people they thought had died and how many other planes they thought were out there about to do similar things. Our middle school students were on an overnight field trip (outdoor education). Some parents were wanting them to come home early; I assured the parents that the children were in an extremely safe location as there was no way their location was a target for terrorism (out in the middle of nowhere). They were due to come home that evening. I called the outdoor education center, and it turned out the staff there knew nothing about it yet, which made sense as radio and tvs aren't exactly part of an outdoor education experience. We made the decision to not tell any of the children in our building (preschool through 5th grade) so that their parents could be the ones to tell them, but we decided the middle school teachers would tell their students about it on the way home on the bus. Interestingly enough, there was a meeting held a couple of months later for all the principals in the area (public and private schools alike), and it turned out that ALL of us independently made the same decision. Not one elementary principal authorized their students being told, and in fact they went to great lengths (indoor recess, altered bus routes, etc.) to ensure that they weren't told at school, and ALL of the middle and high school principals told their students at school. 
Going back to the actual day, I recall walking into the lunchroom and telling the teachers about it at lunch. One teacher asked me if this was a practical joke or something (which if you know me very well, that would be very out of character for me). They were stunned. I remember couple of days later seeing a first grader playing with legos in the classroom renacting an airplane running into a building. Although it was very frightening to hear the initial speculations, it actually then made the "real" numbers seem not as bad as they were a small fraction of what they said in the beginning, although of course it still was a very, very sad day. I remember that a lot more parents than usual came to pick up their kids from school that day (rather than letting them take the bus as they usually did), and quite a few picked their children up early. 
Paul and I had been married for exactly 1 month on the day it happened, and I can remember being annoyed that Paul wasn't more comforting. I was wanting a nice big hug, and he was very analytical rather than emotional about the whole event. He promptely reminded me that he had worried about this happening. Actually I hadn't needed his reminder. I had told my secretary earlier that day that Paul had said this might happen. When we had been near really high skyscrapers (such as the Empire Building in NYC), he had told me he had no interest in going to the top because this was a target for terrorists. He said this years before it actually happened. His response on 9-11 was more along the lines of "it could have been worse." Men are from mars and women are from venus as the saying goes. I'm grateful that we haven't yet experienced another attack of this magnitude on our soil, and I hope many more years (or better yet decades) take place before such a tragedy occurs again. It will be interesting to note in 20 years what is "the event" that my children will remember where they were when they found out about it.
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