Country singer, Alan Jackson wrote these lyrics shortly after September 11, 2001 –
Where were you when the world stopped turning on that September day?
Were in the yard with your wife and children or working on some stage in L.A.?
Did you stand there in shock at the sight of that black smoke risin’ against that blue sky?
Did you shout out in anger in fear for your neighbor or did you just sit down and cry?
Like the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the assassination of President John Kennedy and the death of Elvis Presley, we all can remember where we were when we heard the news of the attack on America in the fall of 2001. I was stopped at a gas station on my way to work, pumping gas. Some guy pulled in behind, jumped out of his car and began to shout: “We’ve been bombed! We been attacked!”
When I got back in my car, I tuned into a news station to hear the frantic reports of what was happening in New York City. I arrived at the office to find all my coworkers piled into the small conference room with the TV broadcasting the horrendous pictures. We all gasped in unison as the second plane hit the second World Trade Center tower. The boss was on her cell phone trying to reach her brother who was scheduled to be in NYC that morning. Cell service was spotty and she was becoming more and more frustrated in her attempts to reach him. He was stopped in halted traffic in a tunnel and saw what we had just seen on that little TV screen.
We all saw the video and photographs of first responders running into the billowing smoke and flying debris to rescue their fellow citizens. Sure it was their job but, that day it was more than their job. Nearly 3,000 would die that day. Some would die from the ravages of that day months and years later. The attack on the Pentagon also cost the lives of American citizens. The crew and passengers on United Airlines Flight 93 prevented the deaths of hundreds other beyond their own when they forced that flight to the ground in Shanksville PA.
Alan Jackson’s lyrics continue:
Did you weep for the children who lost their dear loved ones? 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 doin’ what they do?
Did you look up to heaven for some kind of answer and look at yourself and what really matters?
We thought we were a changed people following 9/11 as neighbors helped unknown neighbors far away to rebuild and recover as best we could. We, Americans, have done that many times before. Hurricanes, tornadoes, floods that have devastated our communities have brought out the giving and sharing spirit in us all. September 11, 2001 was different. This was an enemy seeking to destroy American out of pure hate! Hate is an almost insurmountable foe. Alan Jackson wrote:
Faith, hope and love are some good things He gave us and the greatest of these is love.
When we reached out after 9/11 and these other disasters we did not allocate our caring and sharing based on skin color, ethnicity, life style choices, gender, riches or poverty. Someone needed help. We did what we could. We thought 9/11 would change us but, it has not. Here, 20 years later, we are a country driven by greed and hatred. Just turn on your news channel and see the images (sometimes praised) as we devour one another in anger because the other guy is not like me.
We need more men and women like those first responders of 9/11 who went inside those crumbling buildings not just became it was their job but because it was their neighbor. Vaccinations and masks are not going to save us from this virus. We need broken hearts and open arms.
“Where were you when the world stopped turning on that September day?” Where are we now?
Thanks, Karen, for sharing your insight.