Remembrance

Trauma - b : a disordered psychic or behavioral state resulting from mental or emotional stress or physical injury (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trauma)

I remember that morning. At least part of it. The kids were supposed to be settling in for work. Then the Social Studies teacher rushes in from next door to tell me to turn on the TV. He's usually so calm and collected. Not that morning. We both looked up at the mounted TV in disbelief as the newscast replayed an airplane going into the side of the World Trade Towers. All of the smoke and people running. Then to our horror, live and on air, another plane circles around to plow into the other tower. People in the tower. People in the jet. Then images of people running in the soot and smoke. Like ghosts from a bad teen novel. I have no idea what my students were doing. I don't think the Social Studies teacher does, either.
This afternoon Ben and I  watched an episode of Bones. Half way through the show, different characters begin to recount what they were doing on 9/11. It all took my mind back to a painful day. A fuzzy school year as we all tried to keep going. No one crying much. Many prayers. No, these characters weren't sitting around in therapy exploring their feelings. These characters were doing their jobs when circumstances and insight forced open the remembrance. Like me watching a TV program, forcing me to open my remembrance, bringing back tears and a sense of unresolved trauma. How many of my responses in life are actually responses to a day of trauma on a TV screen? Maybe that's why I try so hard to get Ben to understand that what we see on a TV screen does impact us. 
And brings back a heart-wrenching remembrance.