This week, I asked my students a simple question:
Were you ever taught about 9/11 and al-Qaeda?
Many told me they had participated in 9/11 remembrance ceremonies in school. They learned that the attacks happened, but they had never actually been taught about the events leading up to September 11, who al-Qaeda was, why America was attacked, or what followed.
Think about that for minute. We spent more than 20 years at war following the attacks of 9/11, it changed our entire way of life, yet an entire generation of Americans can graduate from school w/o ever understanding who we were fighting, why we were fighting them, or how we got there.
Itās important to remember and honor the nearly 3,000 that died that day, more than 9,400 who have since died from 9/11-related illnesses, and thousands of soldiers KIA and those who came back w/life altering injuries.
Thatās exactly why 9/11 needs to be more than just a once a year ceremony.
If we want future generations to understand 9/11, we have to teach them the history behind it, including the rise of al-Qaeda, the ideology that motivated the attacks, the warnings and attacks that came before September 11, what we sacrificed in the name of security, and the wars that followed.
To me, there is a pre-9/11 America and a post-9/11 America.
Sadly, the generations born after 9/11 will never truly know what pre-9/11 America was like. But they should at least understand what changed, why it changed, and the price we paid.
āNever Forgetā should also mean never stop teaching what happened and why.