There is now just one month before the 10th anniversary of the attacks of 9/11/2001. Most of our middle schoolers were alive during those painful times, but were too young to know what was going on. However, with all of the focus we can expect on this 10th year remembrance, it will probably be a time when you want to have a serious discussion with your young adolescents about what happened that day.
The History Channel has a website that may facilitate your discussion. Entitled 9/11 Attacks: 102 Minutes That Changed America, it has maps, interviews, videos, and other resources related to the events of that eventful day. However, be prepared--there is a lot of on-the-spot footage that depicts both the terror, and the heroism, of that day. I haven't watched all the videos myself yet, but the ones that make me the saddest are the footage of the firemen charging into the buildings without faltering, determined to saving lives in a place that I know is going to collapse around them. So I don't know how emotional you are, but I know I need to preview these videos before sharing them with my son.
On the other hand, in these times when our political systems appear to be in disarray, when our confidence in our country may be shaken, and when we are seeing the English riot in a way we would never expect from such a civilized country, it may not be bad to show our tweens these videos of people rising up and acting in such an honorable way, even though it cost many of them their lives.
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