An insightful addendum to my recent blog: A FITTING CODA TO SEPT 11, 2001. Yesterday’s evening news had an interview with one of the college youth present at Ground Zero and shouting ” USA – USA” after hearing of the assassination of Bin Laden. The student was asked why the chant. The reply stated that most of the college youth were approximately eleven years of age when the Tin Towers crashed. Born after the Cold War, the dismantling of the Berlin Wall, and the collapse of Communism they experienced their youth experiencing feeling secure. This, of course, was not the experience of my Depression and WWII generation, or that of the Boomers, or Generation X. The collapse of the Towers shattered their sense of security. Bin Laden’s demise vindicated faith in their country. Interesting to me is that most of my thirteen grandchildren were born after 1990. Three generations separate us. We have to compare notes to understand one another and maybe together shout “USA – USA”. But with, perhaps, varying nuance.
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The Bartling Scholarship 
It’s remarkable how quickly our common historical touchstones part company. The comments I could make in class and assume my students understand are few indeed now that I am over 50.
I remember it like yesterday, the first week of 4th grade. It was hard to understand the magnitude of the event as a 9-year-old, but even then it stuck in my memory.
Evan – I was tutoring Vietnamese immigrants the use of English. We viewed intently the TV monitor. For my generation the attack on Pearl Harbor resonates powerfully. I was thirteen and playing basketball when the announcement came. GPA