I'm just curious as to what everyones opinions are on this topic. I do understand that 9/11 is an important day in US history and that it will be talked about just as we talk about the World Wars, Viet Nam etc.
My reasoning for this topic is in my eldest childs middle school yesterday they kept bringing the happenings of 9/11 up. It wasn't done in a class room setting to "study" it, it apparently kept coming over the PA system. They were reading off quotes from fire fighters and other people involved in the attacks.
Now, I can understand talking about this in a class room, you have your peers around you and you can discuss the feelings you are having, but to keep coming across the PA system doing what they did, I don't feel it was appropriate. My eldest had a really hard time with 9/11, and still does, and the announcements they kept coming across with really stressed them out yesterday to the point that they simply couldn't function in class any longer and I was called to take them home.
Yes, I will admit that this child is a sensitive child, especially compared to other kids in the same age range. I think the problem was simply that the announcements were bringing up feelings and emotions that had no place for an outlet. I know that it's not the schools problem to deal with my childs emotional baggage, but I sure do wish they would have been able to have discussed this in class rather than doing it the way they did it.
I personally did not watch any news yesterday because I knew how much coverage would be given to the 9/11 anniversary and I just didn't feel like feeling the way I knew it would make me feel.
Anyway, am I wrong for feeling this way or does someone out there also feel that it should have been done differently?
Thanks for reading!
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3 comments:
Thankfully nothing happened in my daughter's school this year that made 911 a focus. I understand that it is something that is important because it did change our nation but I also know there are still people that are strongly affected by it. I think something like this could have been avoided if the School would have communicated a bit better with parents.
Jo,
You and your child are not alone on this. I refrained from much blogging and most television, leading up to the anniversary and am just now slowly coming back to both.
I have a hard time dealing with the (IMO) inordinate amount of memorializing most people and the media are making of this past event, especially considering it has been 5 years now.
I fully understood the year after, however each succeeding year I find interest in dwelling on and reliving the events of 2001 to be a little well, morbid.
I have referred to this on my own blog as a memorial-gasm, in a feeble attempt to get people to remember, but not dwell on it. Get on with your lives people, 09/11/2001 is in the past, let it go and get on with your lives.
I find the movies to be the most offensive and avoid them completely. I’ll watch them when no one stands to benefit financially from my doing so, say in thirty years or so…
Next year, you may want to write your children’s school a note around the first day of school informing them that you are withholding them from school if they intend to further disturb them with continued dwelling on what is now a now historical event.
A minute or two is all that should be necessary, any more that that and they (those participating) should seek professional help with their obsession.
I'm more concerned that our nation is dragging out a war that, properly fought, should have been over in 2-3 years. So much for our watered-down resolve. . .
lisa renee,
Communication has always been my biggest argument with both of my childrens schools. Communication, or the lack of it, will make or break any relationship, but I feel it is VERY important between a parent and their childrens school. Sadly, I've never received much communication from schools, other than the 5 million pre-recorded messages about stuff that I already know about. TPS should make it an option for parents to be able to opt out of the general pre-recorded messages because they seem to have them programmed to call at the worst possible times!
hooda,
memorializing is a very important step of moving on from a tragedy, but I'm with you in the fact that I feel there is simply too much! I feel that we as a country need to move on. Does this mean forget? NO, I would never expect any decent american to forget the tragedy of 9/11, but remembering and reliving are 2 totally seperate things. There is a time and a place for it, and I do not believe reliving 9/11 should be done in a school. Ditto on the war, it feels like the Viet Nam of this generation in some ways.
Jo
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