BY THE SOUTHERNER EDITORIAL BOARD

Second grade at Morningside Elementary School. Dr. Paille’s class. We thought it was a normal day as we sat on the alphabet rug watching “Between the Lions.” But when each of our classmates were progressively being checked out by their melancholy parents, confusion, worry and angst transcended into our elementary minds.

We seniors remember this tragic day of loss, anger and shock–—Sept. 11, 2001. We recount those vivid memories from the hours during and following the school day each year when another year is added to the 9/11 memorial. They are filled with images flashing across the television screen of the two Twin Towers plummeting to the ground, the remains of a plane burning in a field and other tragic scenes.

Now, 10 years later, it’s hard to believe that students younger than us might have no recollection of that tragic day. They might not even emotionally connect to this event. Students in the same school as us, freshmen and sophomores, are living with the effects of 9/11 without even realizing that our world was different before the attacks. Heightened security in airports and war in the Middle East are just a few of many repercussions of that day.

The memories might rest inside our minds, but the students younger than upperclassmen were too young to experience or remember the shift of our nation’s mindset.

This divide between generations is apparent because those who remember 9/11 saw that day as a life-changing event. We were forever altered by the tragedy. The students who don’t remember the attacks, however, don’t know today’s life to be any different. They do not know of a time when we were less fearful and vigilant. America’s paranoia has become commonplace due to the attacks, but to the younger generation, this is simply reality.

While many might not remember 9/11, we hope that everyone took the time to reflect on the event and to honor those who died.