I was teaching. High school Spanish in my basement classroom. Although I don't remember the particulars of the subject matter for that day, I remember exactly where I was standing, as well as the looks on the faces of my mostly freshmen students. The principal's voice came through the loudspeaker: "Teachers, please turn on your televisions." The tv was mounted to the wall behind me, and I clicked the power button. Everyone was silent as we waited for the picture to warm up, then tried to comprehend the images we were seeing. Buildings. Smoke. It didn't seem to make sense. Had there been a fire? A bombing? Slowly, bit by bit, it sank in. A plane collided with another building, and we all gasped. We were too shocked to cry. Too stunned to look away.
Later--maybe minutes, maybe hours, maybe days--I read an essay written by one of my favorite authors to my class. I still have a copy of that essay stored away somewhere.
Rest in peace, all the lives lost that tragic day.
In less depressing news, I hereby plegde to be a better person (and possibly help the team's chances) by donating canned goods to my local food pantry for every win by the Cardinals for the rest of the season--regular and post. A fellow baseball blogger (k-bro), has challenged Twins fans and bloggers to follow her lead and provide a little charitable motivation to the club. Obviously, my loyalties lie elsewhere than Minnesota, but I think the idea is great, and I encourage everyone to jump on board.
Also, in keeping with her plan, I'll also donate an item for every Dodgers loss (seeing how involving the Cubs in this would only be insulting, and we're in a much stiffer competition with LA over the best NL record).
Whadaya say, sports fans?
Let's
start
now.
