The Session:  Why should we remember 9/11?

According to Pew Research, 93% of those 30 and older say they remember exactly where they were on Sept. 11, 2001.  Only 42% of 25 year olds remember.  Today’s high school students were not born when the attacks of 9-11 happened.

Why is 911 an important event?

The 9/11 attacks killed 2,977 people. This was the single largest loss of life resulting from a foreign attack on American soil. The attacks caused the deaths of 441 first responders, the greatest loss of emergency responders on a single day in American history.

 Pew Research did their first survey about the public’s reaction to the attacks from Sept. 13-17, 2001. A sizable majority of adults (71%) said they felt depressed, nearly half (49%) had difficulty concentrating and a third said they had trouble sleeping.

90% said they got most of their news about the attacks from television, compared with just 5% who got news online – and the televised images of death and destruction had a powerful impact. Around nine-in-ten Americans (92%) agreed with the statement, “I feel sad when watching TV coverage of the terrorist attacks.” A sizable majority (77%) also found it frightening to watch – but most did so anyway.

Three weeks after 9/11, even as the psychological stress began to ease somewhat, 87% said they felt angry about the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

Most Americans said they were very (28%) or somewhat (45%) worried about another attack. When asked a year later to describe how their lives changed in a major way, about half of adults said they felt more afraid, more careful, more distrustful or more vulnerable as a result of the attacks.

 From Since911.com  has resources for teachers to use, like this:  What made 9-11 such a shocking attack?  It came out of the blue; the USA had never been subject to this kind of terrorist attack before; the scale was difficult to take in; it was viewed worldwide on television as events were happening; it felt like the end of the world and no one knew when the attacks would stop or who might be next; it bore an awful similarity to many disaster movies except that this was for real. Ask three students to come to the front and read out different statements explaining why it is still important to remember 9/11 (it would be a good idea to select and brief the students beforehand): ▪ It is important to remember the 2,977 victims and their families who are still affected by events on that day. ▪ It is important to remember that the events of that day changed the world forever and that we have all been affected by them in some way. ▪ It is important to remember 9/11 so that we all work together to try to prevent something like this from ever happening again.

Kids may have seen stories about 9-11, or maybe they know someone who lost someone that day, or in the war that followed.  How do we talk to kids about terrorism?  This is from the 9/11 Memorial and Museum:

Listen

Some children will want to talk about terrorism and some won’t. Both reactions are common. If they do want to talk, it’s important to offer children a safe space to share their thoughts and questions. Actively listen to their concerns, attend to their body language, validate their emotions, and encourage respectful conversation and discussions. If they don’t feel

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