I still can't believe she turned off the TV.

The biggest news event of my life was happening all around me, and my 11th grade teacher decided trigonometry was more important than the horrific drama unfolding before our eyes.

I still don't understand sine or cosine, but I remember Sept. 11, 2001.

Most of my peers were in some sort of classroom at the time. That part of the story always remains the same.

Some friends have told stories of principals making announcements over the school's loud speaker about the events in New York, Washington D.C. and Shanksville.

Other administrators hesitated to disrupt the educational process and were more quiet about the tragedy as it unfolded during the school day.

Then there's tales of how individual teachers handled the situation or how classmates responded to the TV broadcasts.

Today marks the anniversary of the terrorist attacks that killed almost 3,000 people and left America forever changed.

That day also gave thousands of journalists a tough lesson on how to both cover tragedy and how to make sure it is never forgotten.

As a journalist, I think of most things in news terms. Is it newsworthy? Relevant? Timely? Etc.

But 9/11 was an event that transcended the traditional definition of a "story."

It is the one story in recent history with literally incalculable implications. Simply put, the story of 9/11 is not one that ended five years ago.

It is an ongoing, ever-evolving tale of human tragedy ironically clashed with remarkable accounts of overwhelming triumph.

It was everything good and bad about humanity packed into one day.

Sept. 11, 2001 was one of those days that most journalists both live for and dread at the same time. It is the perfect example of why we do what we do. Yet it is one of the most painful memories anyone, including members of the press, is forced to relive.

But that's precisely why the anniversary of the terrorist attacks makes headlines five years later and will continue to make headlines decades into the future.

It's our duty as journalists and as American citizens to never forget what happened that day.

As disturbing as they are, images of the World Trade Center burning or the crater in Shanksville where United Flight 93 came to a fatal end are images we can't afford to erase from our memories.

It is for the same reason that we remember and educate students on the Holocaust that journalists and others commemorate 9/11.

What happened that day was and is too important to ignore.

And that's why I wish she hadn't turned off the TV.