Although it’s been almost a month since 9/11, many students at BSGE, including myself, haven’t forgotten the schools lack of incentive towards this historically painful date. Much of the student body felt as though something has been done incorrectly on that day this September – our entire nation honored those lost, as well as respected everyone in connection, but for some reason a school that is located roughly under an hour away from the site can not spare a minute to pay their dues.
Of course our school is not the only school to not have a moment of silence on this day, and it isn’t that large of a problem that it’s something to grow irate over. However, something came across my attention that I could not comprehend – every year since I have been a member of the student body here at BSGE, we’ve had a Day of Silence for Homosexuals, Trans-genders, etc. Of course something like this is easily accepted at a school like ours, which is highly international and open-minded. What comes to me as a misunderstanding is the question of why we can not spare a minute of our time for those who have lost their lives in a national tragedy, as opposed to an entire day of silence for those that have not died but are just a minority figure. Given that the day of silence is an optional activity that doesn’t have to be followed through with, so is a moment of silence, all that is asked is that the school give some recognition to the most scarred day in the nations history.
An undisclosed source had informed me that teachers find it to be a disruption to their teaching methods when a moment of silence is taken during class. Given this information is true, the question must be asked – what does a day of silence do to their teaching methods? I simply can not grasp this concept. How can it be that a day of silence draws no attention to teachers while 60 seconds can be defined as a problem. In my opinion, it’s because of the population of homosexuals in BSGE, in comparison to the population of those who were personally affected by the actions taken on 9/11/01. However, it should be realized that we live in New York, the greatest city in the world, and that because of our location we were all affected by this. Of course to say that we are all victims is a ridiculous stretch, but to say that it’s a necessity for all of us to pay tribute because of where we live isn’t a stretch at all. It’s just what I feel, but I’m sure that majority of the school will agree me – just ask.
The BACC Rag 