Where was I on 9/11?

by Deborah Hohn Tonguis on Sunday, September 11, 2011


Someone asked, so I'll tell: Where was I on 9/11?

I was teaching in a 7th grade classroom at Mandeville Junior High. My husband called my cell, uttered 5 words, then abruptly hung up - "The U.S. is under attack." Stupidly, I grabbed the TV remote and pressed the ON button just in time for an entire class of pre-teens to watch the second plane fly into the WTC. They thought it was a movie. I quickly turned the TV off and sat in numbed silence before students looking at me in disbelief that I wouldn't let them watch such great special effects. Telling them the truth without crying was one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life.