PREVIEW: The Friday Edition - Your questions about 9/11, answered.
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What did a fifth‑grader experience on the morning of 9/11?
Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening. Today is Friday, September eleventh, the twenty-fifth anniversary of September eleventh. Like most kids of my generation, I'll never forget where I was on nine eleven. I was actually in the fifth grade. Sitting in Mr. Mound's classroom. Another teacher walked in and whispered something in his ear. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped. What? He asked. They both left the room. A murmur ripped across the class and everyone began to speculate about who was in trouble or who died, as fifth graders are wont to do. Mr. Mount came back flustered. He told us that there had been a big accident in New York City, which immediately brought the room to attention. I lived in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and a lot of kids' parents commuted into New York every day for work.
He said some of us might get pulled out of class and school would probably end early. One student asked what happened, and he replied, honestly, that a plane had flown into a big building. A lot of people were hurt, and to be safe, some adults were going to come home from work too. By late morning, the school was a buzz. Students by then had gathered that the accident was really an attack. One teacher had put on the radio in her classroom to listen to the news, which spread across the school like wildfire. I remember someone telling me that China was attacking us and a new world war had just started. Fifth grade for me was a time when my personal world really started to change, when I started to have understanding and opinions and started forming views that would shape my life.
My mom had survived her first bout of breast cancer the year before, so I was newly aware that bad things happen to good people, sometimes for reasons adults couldn't explain. Now I was about to learn that safety is fragile. That people here and abroad are capable of a great deal of horror. I was a walker, so when school got let out early I rushed home on foot, taking a shortcut through our neighbor's side yard. I'll never forget running into my family room and finding both my parents and my neighbor, a former Green Beret, sitting in front of the TV. They were all crying.
How did the narrator’s family react when they first saw the attacks on TV?
My neighbor said something to the effect of a bunch of Arabs are going to die for this, not as a threat or out of bigotry. He stated it as a fact, a certainty. And he said it with some regret and trepidation. Decades later it reminded me how I felt about Palestinians after October seventh. War was coming, he was certain. Which meant horror and death were coming too. He was right, of course, war was coming, and a bunch of Arabs would die for nine eleven. By the time I was in high school and fully politically conscious, nine eleven had become America's defining political issue. It had sent us into Afghanistan and Iraq, and my proximity to New York meant its impact on my life was unavoidable. I'll give you just one remarkable example.
I dated a girl in the ninth grade, Brielle, whose father was one of the pilots on the plane that hit the South Tower. That tower was the second hit, the one everyone watched on television as news crews filmed the North Tower burning. The one that made everyone realize this wasn't an accident but an attack. Not many people think about the pilots or their families, but imagining what they live through is enough to leave you breathless. I saw up close and in person how this attack permanently altered the lives of just one family. Brielle's and my teenage relationship didn't last, but we've been close friends ever since. Just before the sixteenth anniversary of September eleventh, Brielle married a man named Sean, an affable, charming guy who now runs a must-visit brewery in Philadelphia called Future Days, shameless promo for my good friend.
Like Brielle, Sean lost his father on nine eleven, but he was inside the towers. The two met at Camp Better Days, a sleepaway summer camp for children who experience loss on nine eleven. They also met in seventh grade before Brielle and I started dating, and I have a sneaking suspicion Sean stole her from fourteen year old me.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What did a fifth‑grader experience on the morning of 9/11?
0:08–2:21
2
How did the narrator’s family react when they first saw the attacks on TV?
2:21–5:03
3
What personal connections did the host have to the towers and their aftermath?
5:03–7:57
4
How did the 9/11 attacks change everyday life and national security in the U.S.?
7:57–9:50
5
What does Bailey Saul say the day felt like for someone who was born after 9/11?
9:50–12:49
6
Why do some listeners question whether U.S. policy toward Israel and Palestinians caused 9/11?
12:49–17:09
7
What new insights does Graeme Wood’s Atlantic report reveal about al‑Qaeda’s motives?
17:09–17:49
8
How can listeners learn more about the interview with Graeme Wood and the deeper analysis?
17:49–17:54
Speakers
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