September 11, 2001

Susan Miszkowicz, age 37.

Place killed: World Trade Center. Resident of New York, N.Y. (USA).

Today's post is dedicated to the memory of those who perished on September 11th, 2001. The videos here are to honor the memories of those people.

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On that morning, as I was headed off to work, my wife called out to me that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. I shrugged it off. It sounded like the time a small plane had hit the Empire State Building.

I was preparing for my day of teaching English to middle schoolers. Then someone said a second plane had hit the other building. Suddenly everything was different. The world stood still.

The world has stood still for me before. There was a day in November, 1963 when my third grade teacher was called out into the hallway and suddenly we were all sent out to play and there was no more lessons that day.

There was the July day in 1969 when I watched intently as my hero, Neil Armstrong, stepped onto the surface of the moon (and my brother stepped on my finger, popping out the nail, resulting in the misshapen nail I carry today).

There was the November 1981 day when I married my wife in my father's backyard.

And there was that morning in September five years ago.

The best way I can express what I saw, thought, and felt that day might be in this video I put together about it:


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I am greatly moved at the thought of those who raced into that building, again and again, until...

One habit I began was to stop and thank every fireman, police officer, and veteran I encounter. Every one.

I made this video because something in my heart stirred at the song... something made me feel I had to express myself somehow.

I thought my students might want to also do something. And they did.

We talked about creating a memorial to 9/11... We wanted a place to reflect on what had happened, and a place where students could sit quietly, peacefully. We dreamed up the Peace Garden at Ackerman Middle School.

As the central feature of the garden we wanted to obtain a piece of the World Trade Center (depicted in the video).

As a writing assignment for my class we started a letter writing campaign. I taught them how to write a formal letter, and required they write six letters each. Most wrote many more. And many other teachers also began asking their students to contribute.

They wrote letters to senators, and representatives; they wrote to the mayor of New York, and the President, and to members of all sorts of organizations. In the end they sent out over 1,800 letters.

Congresswoman Darlene Hooley responded. She managed to grant our wish.

That was a proud day for our school. On September 5th, 2002 a piece of the World Trade Center arrived in our town to much reverent fanfare. On September 11th we brought it from its place of respect at the fire hall to our middle school. There was a time capsule (to be opend September 11, 2021). Here is a video of that day when our dream of bringing a relic of heroism over terrorism to our school came true:


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This year, to mark the fifth anniversary we are retiring the flag which flies over the Peace Garden and replacing it with one that once flew over our nation's capitol. There will be a ceremeony at the fire hall, moments of silence, speeches by local politicians, an open mic time, and that flag will be brought via fire trucks and a police procession to our Peace Garden, where we will teach a new group of kids about the events of that day.

Now I try to keep this blog apolitical. And I am not going to take sides in the debate on our current difficulties here. But I do wish to say this.

My Lord has asked me to love everyone, to show that love to everyone, and in the end, His kingdom is based on that premise alone.

If I can help you to understand that love in anyway, please contact me. I am at your service always.

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Heavenly Father, Bless those who love You, and draw close to those who do not. Please send someone to those who are lost, those wandering in the dark. Lord, I ask that Your will be done today, just as it is done in Heaven. Forgive us for our inability to be obedient. Lord there are those suffering right now. There are mothers crying over the missing children, and I pray for Your comfort for them. From the victims of that terrible day, to the sorrows of today, I pray that Your grace and love and compassion will shine through this present darkness. Protect those who place themselves in harm's way. --Amen.