Thirty years ago, a lunch monitor wheeled in a TV into my classroom (there were no smartboards streaming Netflix back then). There was going to be a shuttle launch and in 1986 that was still big news. There was a science teacher on board, so it was a big deal. My brother's 4th grade class was brought in as well. It launched. Then it happened.
The shuttle exploded into a giant fireball just after take off. People were crying, the monitor didnt know what to do she eventually turned off the TV. During those few moments, we saw it over and over again. It is as vivid in my mind as if it happened yesterday. People of a certain age have these moments that embed themselves in their minds. Like Pearl Harbor, the JFK assasination or 9/11.
Earlier today I watched a classroom full of second graders at lunch time. They were watching Ice Age:Melt Down, so the most tragic thing they saw is a large chunk of ice might fall on the wooly mammoth with a celeberity voice.
These kids have lived in a world with horrific mass shootings, terrorist attacks, and horrible catastrophes (both man made and natural). I wonder and fear what there moment in time will be.
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