September 11

Everyone has a memory of where they were and what they were doing when America was attacked.

So here's mine:

It was a normal Tuesday at Sweetwater Middle School. RuthAnn Campbell, the school's counselor, passed by me in the hall that morning and asked if I had heard about the plane that crashed into the World Trade Center building. We discussed how that could possibly happen.

Surely we thought if the pilot had passed out or suffered a heart attack the co-pilot could have still kept that from happening.

We turned on the TV in an empty classroom to watch. When the second tower was hit, we knew immediately that this was no accident.

While we tried to keep school as normal as possible, it was impossible to keep the teachers from discussing the events. Soon the kids were interested and the curriculum suddenly turned to current events.

I remember some of those middle school kids getting worried that "they" would attack Sweetwater too. We spent much of the afternoon reassuring the kids that we would be safe and that there is an advantage at times to live in a small town.

Some parents came to the school to retrieve their kids early, but only a couple. As the time came to dismiss for the day, I got on the intercom and made an announcement that we should all trust our national leaders to keep us safe. I told the kids that when they say their prayers before bed to remember all those who had lost their lives and the families of those affected.