My Favorite Moment In History

I’m not sure why, but it is extremely difficult for me to decide on my favorite moment in history, which makes me feel sort of disappointed in myself because I like history.  I can name a lot of important historical and appreciate their importance but I don’t know if there is any particular moment that is my favorite. 

I think if I was asked this question when I was in elementary school it would be a lot easier to answer because now I have a better understanding of history and I see both sides of the historical events they most commonly teach in schools.  For example, Christopher Columbus is introduced to students as a hero who discovered America, but he also enslaved natives and introduced (unintentionally) disease that killed millions of people.  The American Revolution is another example of a great moment in American history, but there was also so much American and British blood shed and families destroyed.  The Native Americans were also treated horribly during that time.  Even the civil rights movement, which was successful in the end, endured years of murders, police brutality, and the unfair treatment of innocent people for the sole reason that they had a different color skin.  I guess history is just like that, you can’t have change without loss, but it’s hard to accept that and name any moment a complete success. 

If I were to identify moment in history that was most significant to my life I would choose that the attacks that occurred on September 11^th, 2001.  I don’t know if I can say there was anything positive that occurred following the tragic events that occurred that day but I do know that it impacted my life in a way I’ll never forget.  In 2001 I was in the third grade, just old enough to kind of understand what was going on, and plenty curious to want to fully understand.  I remember being outside in gym class that morning when a teacher came running outside and discretely said something to our gym teacher who told us we had to go inside.  We didn’t know why but the teacher that came outside was upset and so was our gym teacher after they talked.  We went back to our class and they told us that planes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City and that it was a terrorist attack.  My mom came and picked me and my sister up from school and I didn’t really understand why but I asked a million questions which she either didn’t have answers for yet or didn’t want to tell me.  I wasn’t supposed to watch the news, but I did.  I wanted to know and I wanted to understand.  I asked my teacher questions everyday in class and I became obsessed with America.  I wanted to know everything about the presidents and the government.  I just wanted to understand everything.  I read books about the presidents and about Washington DC.  I asked so many questions and people never knew whether or not they were supposed to answer them.  I remember seeing American flags everywhere after that day.  They sold them at the grocery store; people had them on their cars, houses, everywhere.  I remember the red white and blue shirts that said ‘these colors don’t run’, I remember the bumper stickers, I remember the photo of the flag that was torn but still flying at ground zero, I remember that all of the sudden everyone was American and proud of it.  I think that what happened on September 11^th, 2001 was the most significant moment in history for me because I was there and I was old enough to kind of understand it or at least want to understand it.  I think that was one of the first times that I realized bad things could really happen in America.  I think that’s when I understood what it meant to be American.