When the World Stopped Turning

     "Where were you when the world stopped turning, that September day."
     Today is a day that as a culture, we will never forget. It was a day that was darkened by the smoke, ash, and rubble. Blood ran cold as many watched in denial and awe as the planes struck those beacons of architectural grandeur.
     So where were you when the world stopped turning? Although Alan Jackson may have said it best and the song still rings true to the feelings that were felt on that day, it is a reminder to never forget what had happened that day 14 years ago.
     Where was I? I can distinctly remember the sound of the vacuum in my parents room as I continued to turn up the tv so that I could hear the daily episode of "Arthur" better. My little 6 year old self was angry when some being of greater power switched from my show to a live news broadcast. I remember my mom stopping in her tracks as she stared teary-eyed into the television as the second plane hit. Little did I know, life was changing.
     For the weeks that followed, I can vaguely recall news broadcasts about raids with black and white footage from soldiers that were on the ground in a place far far away. I didn't know what any of that meant then, but the present customs, political views, and racial awareness is a constant reminder of that day.
     Years later as I sat in my sixth grade classroom, Mr. Sasaki sat misty-eyed on his wooden stool behind his sticker laden podium as he recalled that September day. His daughter at the time was a flight attendant for Delta airlines and was based out of New York City. She had left Boise airport on September 10th with a flight that would arrive in New York City the next morning at 9:30 EST. He recalls watching the news with his wife when the breaking news banner ran across the top of the screen. Before him he saw a nightmare he wished never came true. A plane, flying into a building. Frantically he tried to make contact with his daughter. Tears choked his throat as he stared at his tennis shoes.
     With a sigh, he looked up and glanced over the class and recalled receiving a reliving call hours after the second tower was struck. Overcome with emotion his daughter told him about how she couldn't stop staring at the Twin Towers as the morning sun gleamed from their shiny rooftops. How she couldn't believe that she lived in a place filled with such beauty and glorious structures. 10 minutes after gazing upon their gleaming spires and after landing and escorting travelers off the plane, she looked behind her to get one last look at those towers. What she saw was no longer the two beacons of industrial beauty, it was plumes of smoke.
    They both will always remember where they were when the world stopped turning.
   We now stand as the generation that were young and clueless but are now the adults. But we are also the adults who are rioting in the streets, taking the lives of men and women who have sworn to protect other's lives, turning on each other with malice and no regard for human life. It makes me wonder that if we as a people have forgotten how it felt to be attacked by those who had no regard for the lives on those planes and in those towers. I sit and ponder about how on earth we have forgotten about the brotherhood that the American people felt towards one another after the buildings collapsed. Men, women, and children of all different walks of life, races, and religions held hands and comforted those around them. Complete strangers gathered together to pray for those who had passed, who were trapped, who rescued, who lived.
      Today we live in a country where there are those who are disrespecting the flag that we clung to 14 years ago. Today we are surrounded by so much turmoil within our nation we forget that we are indeed a nation, united under the grace of God. Today we attempt to never forget the men and women who lost their lives in the rubble or in the attempt to rescue those in the rubble. But it is today that we need to stand as a nation to become the great nation that those firemen, policemen, and citizens who perished remember and love.
       I remember where I was when the world stopped turning, and I will continue to remember what it is to be an American with pride and gratitude. I will always remember where I was when the world stopped turning on that September day.