Hawaiian Day

Strange as it sounds, for me September 11, 2001 will always be "Hawaiian Day". In September 2001 I was a freshman at Chugiak High School in Eagle River, Alaska. As a result of the Alaskan seasonal pattern (Winter: October-April, Spring: April, Summer: May-August, Fall: September-October), the football season ended rather shortly into the school year. So while students in most states don't enjoy homecoming until mid-October, we enjoyed it the second week of September. Tuesday, September 11, 2001 was the second day of spirit week, "Hawaiian Day".

This week, before I became jaded with school spirit and the seemingly endless lack of creativity exercised during spirit week by student government (Enough people wear part of their sleepwear to school anyway, must their be a "Pajama Day" every single spirit week!?!), I dressed up most of the days. As I woke at 5:45 so I could catch the bus at 6:50, my Dad told me that "Weird things are happening". He informed me that two planes had crashed into the world trade center, and another crashed into the Pentagon. I watched the news (as I usually did) throughout my routine. My mom woke up, and I told her the news. She had not been watching 10 minutes when the first tower fell. By the time I left for the bus, neither tower existed anymore, and the world was changed.

Most of the day was spent in confusion and discussion (with the exception of German, where we angrily had to work on our German). In honors English and history we discussed what had happened, and swirling rumors. In Science, as we worked on our assignments the news played in the background, every new development coming to us as we scienced away.

The day and how it changed the world affected me. Though I did not plaster myself or a family automobile in flags, I did seriously consider buying a bowling shirt (what can I say, I am a nerd) proudly emblazoned with "United We Stand". By the end of the school year, though, the events of that fateful day had become meaningless. It had become merely a political talking point. I was so numbed to it, that at the end of the year assembly when a montage of 9/11 pictures came up, me and my fellow freshman debater Nina, mocked that the music the pictures played to was from The Lion King.

Though it took years for me to mentally seperate what happend to those innocent people on that tragic day, and the political buzzword it became. I will never forget that day. I even still wear the Hawaiian shirt that I wore on that worst of Hawaiian Days.