Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?

Where were you when the world stopped turning on that September day?

We all know the words, or have at least heard the song that Alan Jackson wrote and made famous not long after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. A day forever engrained in the lives and minds of Americans all over the United States.

For me, I just old enough to remember what was going on, but not quite old enough to understand the severity of that fateful day. I was in third grade, just coming back from my PE class. We walked in to our classroom to our teacher crying in front of the TV set.

We didn't continue on with class that day. We couldn't turn off the TV. Little did I know that I would have the humble opportunity to see Ground Zero just a few years later and again once the Memorial was completed.

Where were you when the world stopped turning?

Although I nor my family were directly affected by the Terrorist Attacks, something resonated with me that kept drawing me in long after it happened. Today, I find myself glued to the TV, watching countless documentaries and reflections about that day.

Roughly 3000 Americans perished that day and the days following. First responders, firefighters, police officers, volunteers and countless others risked their lives to save those trapped in the World Trade Center Towers, the Pentagon and that field in Pennsylvania.

Today, more than 2,000 of those brave American's are battling cancer and other deadly diseases from the toxic dust and debris they inhaled. 

Where were you when the world stopped turning?

Today, on the 13th Anniversary of 9/11, ceremonies in New York, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania of those lost. Moments of silence marked each individual impact, along with the collapse of each tower. Family and friends read the names of those who perished. It all started in New York at 8:46am EST, the same time that the first plane hit the North Tower 13 years ago today.

Today, a country remembers that fateful day, a day that changed America forever.

I have had the humble privilege of visiting Ground Zero twice in my life. Once in 2009, when there was still a visible hole where the towers once stood. Then again just last year, shortly after the new memorial opened to the public in 2013. Seeing the two memorial pools, build where the towers once stood and engraved with the names of everyone who perished that day, left me speechless.

Now, as I sit here watching a documentary titled "Voices from the Towers," it becomes more real than ever.

In the words of Alan Jackson:

Did you weep for the children who lost their dear loved ones
And pray for the ones who don't know?
Did you rejoice for the people who walked from the rubble
And sob for the ones left below?
Did you burst out with pride for the red, white and blue
And the heroes who died just doing what they do?
Did you look up to heaven for some kind of answer
And look at yourself and what really matters?

Where were you when the world stopped turning on that September day?