Where were you Sept. 11, 2001?

I was in Lecture Room C in Oshkosh North High School, attending a junior meeting – you know, where they hand you a FAFSA form and swear if students don’t apply early enough, their hopes for higher education will come crashing down.

After we listened to my literature teacher (oh, remember the days when they were called teachers?) address our class of about 400, my friends – well, the ones whose last name fell in the A-L category – and I began our early-morning mingling.

The questions began to fly: “Did you know we had to read all that by today?” “Lins, do ya know ya parked in the boonies again?” and, the not-so-normal comment: “Hey, guys, did you know the World Trade Center towers fell down?”

Now, I have no idea where you were that day, and I don’t know what your reaction was, but I was shocked and overwhelmed. My friends shared that sentiment, and suddenly our homework frustrations and other discussion topics fell off the priority list.

So did class.

Eventually, I headed to Spanish, taught by the neice of former Chilean president Salvador Allende, assassinated Sept. 11, 1973. Ironic, eh?

She wandered – yes, wandered, as she too was in shock – into the room and informed a group eagerly awaiting an extra credit grammar exercise that her son, a reporter for Dow Jones who worked in the towers, was alive only because he had overslept his alarm and caught a late train.

Three years later, she’s still teaching students like my 16-year-old sister. I’m sure high school students are still freaking over potentially flunking a test or forgetting to read, and I’m sure there are still students swearing as they hike the half-mile into school from the parking lot. There’s still a Lecture Room C, and there’s still an Oshkosh North High School, but there are no World Trade Center towers in New York City.

Yes, the world still turns, but there have been many changes in it.

Personally, my world hasn’t been altered – my parents’ jobs remain intact, and my few friends in the military won’t head out until this conflict hopefully is resolved – but it becomes very real and, again, shocking when I realize most people’s worlds were affected. Never before Sept. 11 had I had a conversation with a friend in which I said, “I have a sister, and she plays basketball,” and she said, “I have a brother, and he’s serving in Iraq.”

How did Sept. 11 affect the world in general?

Gas prices have soared.

One of the first things I did after school Sept. 11 was whisk a Kodak disposable camera off my kitchen counter and run to the gas station a few blocks down the road so I could capture on film the cars lined up to load up on gas. A picture of it ran on the front page of my student newspaper that month.

Hey, even in the face of tragedy, a girl’s gotta take care of business, right?

Many companies took their business overseas; however, there are more jobs now than there were after the economy took a nosedive along with the planes.

Another change is airport security; I recall my Spanish teacher saying she’d never felt more like a minority than when returning from visiting her son, as she had been pulled aside and searched because of her dark skin tone.

But, aside from those people undergoing profile scans, everyone is affected because they must arrive at the airport early if they want to make it to the gate on time. Also, fans must arrive early at sporting events, as there’s increased security at, for instance, Packer games as well.

The key phrase in the above paragraph is: Everyone is affected. But in a time of change, there is one guarantee that won’t be revoked: the right to vote.

Yes, I’m going to be cliche here when I reiterate it’s imperative everyone, especially students, head to the polls.

I will admit I still have some information to read about the candidates’ campaigns because, although I’ve made my decision, the fact of the matter is I must obtain all of the facts.

Students should sort through all information before Election Day. Sometimes even a conversation with an informed parent, professor or friend (if you can stray from the early-morning mingling for just one moment) may help sharpen the big political picture.

I don’t know what your reaction is to my suggestion, but I take the challenge of becoming an informed, active citizen very seriously.

Sept. 11 affected your life, whether it was an immediate effect or not, and now you can affect how the country wraps up the war effort and progresses from here.

Where will you be Election Day 2004?