BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — The comparisons have been unmistakable.
COVID-19, more than one commentator has said, is our nations greatest crisis since 9-11.
Bridging the gap between those two seismic events is Bloomington Jefferson High School senior Shannon Loughrey.
“People would be like, ‘Oh my gosh, your birthday’s on 9-11,’” Shannon says. “And I’m like, ‘Yeah, can’t do much about that, but it’s the way it is.’”
Between the collapse of the first twin tower and the second, Shannon Loughrey entered the world.
“The TVs came on and I think we saw the second tower fall live while we were waiting for her to get cleaned up,” Sean Loughrey, Shannon’s dad, says.
“I always said that the day that was a really sad day for the nation, was the happiest day in our family, because our family was complete,” Shannon’s mother, Anne Loughrey, adds.
Anne and Sean did their best to celebrate their youngest daughter’s birthdays on a date when others grieved.
On her first birthday, Shannon was featured on the front page of the Minneapolis StarTribune as a 9-11 baby.
“I don’t think there can be a post traumatic shock syndrome because of your birthday, but I think it has carried with her through her life,” Shannon’s father says.
Shannon says the date of her birth is always in the back of her mind, particularly in school when the subject turns to 9-11.
“I think it’s definitely shaped me into just taking things the way they are, and things are bad in the world and you just kind of got to take it as it is,” Shannon says.
Now, Shannon and the other babies of the 9-11 era are the high school seniors whose plans for proms and graduations have been interrupted by another national crisis.
“I think it’s going to leave a scar on them,” Shannon’s dad says. “There’s going to be a chip on their shoulder, but what are they going to do with that chip, I guess is the question.”
Shannon’s mom agrees. “Here we have a really big reminder that we can’t always shield our kids from everything, and so they’re living it with us, and I think how we react to it is important to how they’re going to see it.”
Shannon is her family’s daily reminder, that good can come from the worst of days.
Then, and now.
“Even in tragedy there’s hope for better things,” her dad says. “This has been bad, but it’s going to get better.”
Shannon, the former 9-11 baby, offers one piece of advice to the other members of the class of 2020.
“Like 9-11, you’ve just got to take it the way it is and just keep striving for the next thing and make it your best. Things will happen, but we’ve just got to keep moving forward,” she says.