Week 4: Memory, Intelligence, and Emotion

BB:  Wagner-Pacifici & Schwartz; C&S: Hochschild 51-56, Arluke 326-339

Required entry: Anniversary of 9/11.  Please follow these general guidelines, but tell a story!

-Read “Commemorating America’s Involvement in Vietnam” by Wagner-Pacifici and Schwartz.
-How do you remember September 11th, 2001?
-Use the reading to explain how our memory of 9/11 is currently being constructed by media, politicians, etc.

                     

On September 11, 2001, I woke up expecting it to be like any other school day. However, instead of getting up and getting dressed and brushing my teeth as I would for a typical day in the fourth grade, my mom had me come straight downstairs. All I can clearly remember is standing in my living room in front of the TV while Mom was in the kitchen, and watching the planes fly into the twin towers repeatedly. There was red ticker tape running across the top of the news station we had on, and there was smoke coming from the towers. There was a sense of shock, unbelief, and sorrow. At some point (I don’t know when), my mom explained to me that not just a couple years before, we had stood at the top of those towers. She explained it was in New York. She also explained that the towers were no longer standing because those planes crashed into them. She said that there had been another plane headed for the Pentagon that crashed, but didn’t make it all the way to Washington D.C.

I was young and confused and slightly disconnected from all of it. Sadness registered within me, and so did worry for our personal safety and for the safety of the country, but otherwise it didn’t affect me much. I didn’t personally know anyone who worked or lived in New York or Washington D.C. I don’t remember how the rest of the day went. I don’t remember being at school, or anything else about that day. At some point following that morning, my family had a conversation that Colorado (where we lived) wouldn’t be a target for an attack, so there was no need to worry about that. That was the extent of my personal memory and connection to what actually happened on 9/11.

However, as the last ten years have passed in remembrance of 9/11, there have been ideas and impressions associated with what happened on that tragic day. As more pictures were released each year by the media, the collective memory has been shaped differently from that of how I personally remember that day. There is a sense of national pride, unity, and coming together in a time of tragedy. There is a sense of honor and respect for the emergency personnel who responded. Now, it’s these people that I think of and picture when I think of 9/11. There are also things about 9/11 that we would rather not remember—such as how it caused a lot of tension, suspicion, and racial profiling in regards to Middle-Eastern Americans. This is something that the media didn’t depict and that memorial services on Sunday didn’t talk about. Similarly, the article read for class talks about how the Vietnam Memorial was constructed in honor of those who lost their lives, not so much about how our government and how we as a country acted in regards to the Vietnam War. We (meaning the media, politicians, and U.S. citizens) don’t talk about and remember the negative responses in both the Vietnam War and September 11^th, 2001. What we do remember and talk about are those who fought and lost their lives. We remember and choose to remember these events in ways that reflect our love for our country.