ELLEN
BERG
Diary #4
As the World Changes, So Must We
On September 11, 2001, our world changed drastically. For the first time since the attack on Pearl Harbor, Americans suffered a multitude of casualties on our native soil. I, along with Americans everywhere, have been deeply affected.
Flags are being sold out across the country and hung on overpasses, outside businesses and homes, and on cars. People are gathering together to grieve and show their support for the victims and the country at countless services. It seems that great tragedy has done what government programs, education, and common sense have not been able to do: united us regardless of race or creed. We are a nation in the tight grip of emotion, filled with anger, fear, outrage, and patriotism. As with Pearl Harbor, out nation's people are in full support of waging war against the perpetrators. I have no doubt that people genuinely feel this way, yet I wonder what will happen if our citizens and military are returned in body bags or if terrorist activity increases on our soil. Will the tragic events of months, even years past sustain the commitment of our people to wipe out terrorism? I hope so, for this war will not be easy or without casualty. As a teacher, I see so many links and repercussions from the events of this week. I have former students who will be graduating from high school this year, several of whom had planned to join the armed forces. What might become of them if we are at war? Knowing the minds, talents, and faces of so many young people who might be called to combat personalizes the tragedies that might be yet to come more clearly than news reports and stories ever can. I think also about my current students who, in spite of their typical adolescent self-involvement, have been jolted irrevocably from the innocence of their childhood. What can I say when they ask, "Why do they hate us so much?" How do I soothe their fears? If life becomes even more dangerous for them than it already is for so many of my children, where is the hope for their futures supposed to come from? Another brick in the wall I think about my kids who, before the incident, expressed a fear of flying. Now they avow never to set foot upon an airplane, and I see them lay yet another brick on the walls they have built around themselves to keep out those things that aren't "for them." I fear they will continue to isolate themselves, building ever-thicker walls until they suffocate. I suppose our roles as teachers are being redefined. We must be committed to helping our students adjust to whatever the future holds for them. We must use the events of this week to teach the importance of tolerance and acceptance for all human beings, even those whose ideas we disagree with. We must teach our students to have hope for the future even in the darkest days and hours to come. I feel I am being a little melodramatic, but I am having a difficult time envisioning the future. I, too, wonder what life in America will be like in the coming months and years. Will I have to think twice before boarding Metrolink, our light rail system, for fear of a bomb? Will biological warfare become the new means of terrorist engagement? In our fear now, will we give up our precious civil liberties to the government to feel safe? Is this a world I want to bring children into? I do not know what the future holds, and it makes me a little nervous. I have little control over the big things, but I have found that taking control of the small things within my reach makes life seem less chaotic. For now my life is the same, the routine of going to school, spending time with friends and family, and communicating with my online network of colleagues at MiddleWeb. I stand ready, waiting for whatever may come, to help my students navigate the waters ahead.
