School reflects on absence of 9/11 recognition

On September 11, 2001, a massive tragedy occurred in America. 2,996 lives were taken in a series of attacks in New York. Hijacked planes flew into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and an open field in Pennsylvania. This year, it seemed as if Westside High School had forgotten the horrifying moment in history. Freshman Nathanael Monjarez was angered about the lack of remembrance.

“I wasn’t here in the morning,” Monjarez said. “I asked friends if there was a moment of silence, and they told me no.”

Monjarez said he remembers doing a moment of silence after the pledge every year before this year. He said this year, there wasn’t even talk about it in any of his classes.  

“[The attacks] happened on U.S. soil.” Monjarez said. “That’s Americans, those are our brothers and sisters that just died. You can’t forget that. It’s just horrible.”

Although Monjarez said he doesn’t have any personal connection to the attacks, he still wanted to show his passion toward the subject so he sent an email to both David Williams, the director of District 66, and Principal Jay Opperman on Monday night hoping for an explanation. Opperman didn’t reply to the email, instead he talked to Monjarez personally in homeroom the next morning.

“I had a couple students email me,” Opperman said. “It really made me reflect on how long do we do a moment of silence for?”

Opperman said he sat at home Monday night really thinking about the situation. He said he wants to know what the guidelines are for how long a moment of silence for an event like that should repeat.

“I was curious,” Opperman said. “I thought, ‘you know we were attacked at Pearl Harbor and weren’t in war at that time. We don’t do a moment of silence.’”

Naval aviator John Hunter Haltom believes that it is sad Westside didn’t recognize 9/11, but that as time goes on, people forget about the horrific things that happened. He thinks that it is important to recognize Pearl Harbor and 9/11 because those events forever changed our history.

“I do my job so that you have the freedom of speech and the freedom of religion.” Haltom said. “Whether you chose to use that, that’s your choice. So if you chose not to memorialize an attack in the United States, I think you have misplaced your focus.”

Opperman said that Monday was a busy morning as administration had to deal with multiple things causing a moment for 9/11 to be overlooked. He said the lack of recognition was not meant to be disrespectful and there was not intentional reason nothing was done.

“I would hope in an American history class that it was mentioned.” Opperman said. “I would hope that in our curriculum, in places that are appropriate, they would take a minute to talk about the significance of [9/11].”

Haltom said that it is easy for people to forget about attacks if no one had a personal connection to someone killed or injured.

“If you lose a relative because someone violently attacks them,” Haltom said. “You are affected by that for life. If you have no connection to that, then you feel comfortable moving on because it doesn’t affect you.”

Respecting Monjarez’s will to respect the tragic event, Opperman said that if recognition wants to be done in the future he believes it should be student initiated instead of administratively.

“I would imagine that in New York City, there will be a moment and there will be a ceremony forever.” Opperman said. “But I think schools around the country it would be a curricularly covered thing. Not something that we stop and say, ‘we’re having this moment.’”