US high school graduates born in shadow of 9/11 enter unsettled pause due to coronavirus
For America’s youth that grew up in the shadow of 9/11, life is now a lonely, strange, unsettled pause.
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It’s high school graduation time here in America and the children who were born in the shadow of 9/11 are the class of 2020.
Among them is my oldest son, who arrived seven days after the new age of terror began.
In that week when the world changed we were forced to rethink just how safe we all were and I asked myself many times what kind of a future this generation faced.
Of course none of us could have guessed at this bookend to their childhood, where what seemed so clear just a few months ago is now shrouded not just by this immediate crisis but also its long term fallout.
In this country where college is nothing short of an obsession for educators and families, and parents are being jailed for trying to cheat their way into schools, the goalposts our graduates were working towards haven’t just been moved but obliterated.
Like many, our boy had planned his senior year and his path to university, studied hard and paced himself for exams that will no longer be held.
New York students have been out of school since early March and he won’t return to an American classroom.
He’s sanguine about it now, as are the few friends who swing by to shoot basketball while wearing masks on our driveway.
When we try to talk to them from the front door, they shake off our questions, the casual reflexive response of any 18-year-old guy who really doesn’t want to discuss feelings with their mate’s mother taking on extra heft now that there really are so few answers.
For those going to American colleges, some of them with hard-won scholarships, it’s not clear if they will be commencing their studies online or in person. And those $70,000 a year tuition fees are really going to sting if there is no actual campus to attend.
The only time I’ve seen my Noah do more than shrug about all this uncertainty was when we discussed the still undecided plan for his graduation ceremony and their senior prom.
“I just can’t pretend to be enthusiastic about it,” he said, clearly disappointed.
“But it could be much worse, so it’s not really worth getting upset about.”
It’s true that so many have lost so much, but I also believe it’s right to mark the small things that are gone, and for him this means that what should have been the best time of his life is instead a lonely, strange, unsettled pause.
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At this stage his class of 200 will be farewelled with a drive-by ceremony, and possibly a prom later in the year.
These car processions are kind of touching. There have been two this month for the retired fireman who lives at the end of our street, when he was welcomed home from intensive care by our neighbours and again by a parade of first responders.
Still wearing his mask, hunched over his cane, Mike thanked us all.
A Vietnam veteran who once rescued children from a Bronx house-fire and was lauded for his bravery on September 11, he said beating the virus was the hardest thing he had ever done.
Another local high school held up traffic for their graduation this week, honking as they passed and being cheered by bystanders.
And while it warms the heart to see these happy young people driving through our streets, it also brings home the sadness that is once again stalking their generation and its incalculable cost.
Originally published as US high school graduates born in shadow of 9/11 enter unsettled pause due to coronavirus
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