Where were you when the world stopped turning?

published September 8, 2011

in the Stockton Sentinel

Stockton, Kansas

            It’s been ten years since the World Trade Center attack, and I bet most of you could tell me exactly where you were and what you were doing when you first heard the news or saw the heart-wrenching pictures. It was a clock-stopping moment that is seared in our memory forever. It was a day that made us all stop and think about what matters most.

            For better or for worse, 9/11 changed us all – as individuals and as Americans. We are less trusting but more generous. We feel more vulnerable yet more appreciative of life itself. We treasure people more, things less. Faith, family, friends – and the words “goodbye” and “I love you” – are not taken for granted.

            A song we will hear many times in the next few days, by Alan Jackson, asks: “Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day? Did you go to a church and hold hands with some strangers? Did you stand in line and give your own blood? Did you just stay home and cling tight to your family, thank God you had somebody to love?”

            President Obama has called for 9/11 to be a National Day of Service. In an address on August 27, the president suggested that: “Through the smallest of actions, we can reclaim the sense of unity that followed the attacks, and demonstrate that our sense of common purpose is just as strong today as it was ten years ago.”

            Regardless of your memory of that day or its affect on you in the long term, please make a point of doing a good deed or supporting a cause on Sunday, 9/11/11. No one else needs to know what you’ve done or plan to do. Simply experience the joy in doing something for someone in tribute to those who died, those who survived, and those who rose in service in response to the attacks.

In case you do want to make a statement, log on to 911dayofservice.com and record your intentions in answer to the question: “What will you do on 9/11 in Tribute?” by simply filling in the blank after the words “I will…” And if you go to this website, scroll down below the section entitled Tribute Quilt, and click on “View the Quilt” to see what others around the globe plan to do. It is inspiring.

            Thousands of innocent people lost their lives that day; they didn’t get a second chance. Thousands more have laid down their lives in conflicts around the world since then, trying to ensure a world of second chances. The least we can do – those of us who have been given another day to live and breathe and have our being – is to make a difference in the life of someone else.