Where were YOU when the world stopped turning??

(that is outside my back door on Saturday)

Where was I......I had just dropped off my kids at daycare and was inroute to the college to teach a class when the first plane hit. We didn't watch TV or listen to the radio on the way to daycare, and I was listening to a CD after I dropped the boys off. As I entered the building of the college I was amazed that there was an open computer in the cafteria. I hoped on it, logged into Blue Mountian and sent my nephew a birthday card...He was 4 years old that day.....

I walked into my classroom, where we were supposed to be doing typing class when all of my students were pale....this was amazing because the whole class was Native Americian--Navajo Tribal officials to be exact. I asked them what was wrong, and one lady just pointed at her screen. She was on the internet and there was a video of the 1st plane crash. I just stood there, mouth open in shock. About 10 minutes later, they cancelled the class so the students could go home to their families and help those who had lost loved ones.

I was still in shock, I called meth-head (he was out working on a drilling rig) and he was all psycho. He wanted me to pack up the boys and we were going to go find a cabin up in Colorado. I told him we didn't have a cabin and he said he would just take one. Screaming on the phone telling me that if I didn't do as he said he would leave me for dead and take the boys. So my shock and sadness took back seat to dealing with a psycho. So, instead of him thinking of the others that had lost their lives...he was thinking of taking stuff from others.

In 2003, I was sitting at a stop light and a fire truck drove by--written on the back was "09/11/01 we will never forget!" I started crying. The people beside me must of thought I was insane or in need of prozac or something.

Then when I heard the song by Allen Jackson "Where were you when the world stopped turning" I cried even more, and still do most times I hear the song.

It not just the horror of someone or some group attacking our soil, it's the innocient and unknowing lives that were lost, and the brave souls that risked and lost their lives helping those in need.

I have a new found respect (in addition to the one I already had) for those in the armed services and for what they do. They follow their orders even though they might not believe in them and they risk their lives to keep us free and safe. They have to live with the memories or regrets from peforming their jobs to the best of their ability.

Then there are the rescue workers at the crash site. Those who risked their lives to save others. Those who slipped away in their hands or were just out of their reach.

Then there are those that were left in the silence that followed to pick up the pieces of broken families and keep their faith in God and their country.

I got the following in an e-mail on Friday...and yes, it made me cry.....

WHOEVER WROTE THIS SHOULD STEP FORWARD AND CLAIM IT!>

THE WORDS ARE POWERFUL:

TWO THOUSAND ONE, NINE ELEVEN (2001-911)

Two thousand one, nine eleven

Three thousand plus arrive in heaven

As they pass through the gate,

Thousands more appear in wait

A bearded man with stovepipe hat

Steps forward saying, "Lets sit, lets chat"

They settle down in seats of clouds

A man named Martin shouts out proud

"I have a dream!" and once he did

The Newcomer said, "Your dream still lives."

Groups of soldiers in blue and gray

Others in khaki, and green then say

"We're from Bull Run, Yorktown, the Maine"

The Newcomer said, "You died not in vain."

From a man on sticks one could hear

"The only thing we have to fear.

The Newcomer said, "We know the rest,

Trust us sir, we've passed that test."

"Courage doesn't hide in caves

You can't bury freedom, in a grave,"

The Newcomers had heard this voice before

A distinct Yankees twang from Hyannis port shores

A silence fell within the mist

Somehow the Newcomer knew that this

Meant time had come for her to say

What was in the hearts of the five thousand plus that day

"Back on Earth, we wrote reports,

Watched our children play in sports

Worked our gardens, sang our songs

Went to church and clipped coupons

We smiled, we laughed, we cried, we fought

Unlike you, great we're not"

The tall man in the stovepipe hat

Stood and said, "Don't talk like that!

Look at your country, look and see

You died for freedom, just like me"

Then, before them all appeared a scene

Of rubbled streets and twisted beams

Death, destruction, smoke and dust

And people working just 'cause they must

Hauling ash, lifting stones,

Knee deep in hell, but not alone

"Look! Blackman, Whiteman, Brownman, Yellowman

Side by side helping their fellow man!"

So said Martin, as he watched the scene

"Even from nightmares, can be born a dream."

Down below three firemen raised

The colors high into ashen haze

The soldiers above had seen it before

On Iwo Jima back in '45

The man on sticks studied everything closely

Then shared his perceptions on what he saw mostly

"I see pain, I see tears,

I see sorrow -- but I don't see fear."

"You left behind husbands and wives

Daughters and sons and so many lives

Are suffering now because of this wrong

But look very closely. You 're not really gone.

All of those people, even those who've never met you

All of their lives, they'll never forget you

Don't you see what has happened?

Don't you see what you've done?

You've brought them together, together as one.

With that the man in the stovepipe hat said

"Take my hand," and from there he led

Three thousand plus heroes, Newcomers to heaven

On this day, two thousand one, nine eleven

Author UNKNOWN (What a shame!)

Where were YOU when the world stopped turning??

http://peebugg.blogspot.com/2006/09/where-were-you-when-world-stopped.html