I remember that day very well. I was teaching math in an alternative high school. When the first plane hit, someone yelled for me to turn on our class room TV. I did. Everyone was totally mesmerized the rest of the day.
About a week later the Principal asked for a panel made up of members of the staff to hold a round table discussion for the students. One of our assistant principals had been in the Peace Corp before teaching and becoming an administrator. He was on the panel. Another teacher had been in the military, besides me. There was one other teacher who had not been in the military. Each panel member was allowed to make a short statement about their background before the students were allowed to start asking questions. Almost no questions were asked of the non-veterans. The two veterans were asked a lot of questions. I remember one question, "Would I go back into the Navy if I thought I could help?" My answer was that it would take too long to train me to the level that I would need to be at in order to be useful again on a submarine. My contribution would be in the classroom, since I considered that to be equally important.
Art
