Where were you on September 11, 2001?

Where Were You
(When The World Stopped Turning)
Alan Jackson

Where were you when the world stopped
turning that September day...
Out in the yard with your wife and children
Working on some stage in LA
Did you stand there in shock at the site of
That black smoke rising against that blue sky
Did you shout out in anger
In fear for your neighbor
Or did you just sit down and cry

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 in pride
For the red white and blue
The heroes who died just doing what they do
Did you look up to heaven for
some kind of answer
And look at yourself to what really matters

I'm just a singer of simple songs
I'm not a real political man
I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell you
The difference in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus, and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young:
Faith, hope and love are some good things he gave us
And the greatest is love

Where were you when the world stopped
turning that September day...
Teaching a class full of innocent children
Driving down some cold interstate
Did you feel guilty cause you're a survivor
In a crowded room did you feel alone
Did you call up your mother and tell her you love her
Did you dust off that Bible at home
Did you open your eyes and hope it never happened
Close your eyes and not go to sleep
Did you notice the sunset the first time in ages
Speak with some stranger on the street
Did you lay down at night and think of tomorrow
Go out and buy you a gun
Did you turn off that violent old movie you're watching
And turn on "I Love Lucy" reruns
Did you go to a church and hold
hands with some stranger
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

I'm just a singer of simple songs
I'm not a real political man
I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell you
The difference in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus, and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young:
Faith. hope and love are some good things he gave us,
And the greatest is love.

I'm just a singer of simple songs
I'm not a real political man
I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell you
The difference in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus, and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young:
Faith, hope and love are some good things he gave us,
And the greatest is love.

The greatest is love
The greatest is love

Where were you when the world stopped
turning that September day...



I love that song. It still makes me cry to hear and sing it, 8 years later.

Where was I when the world stopped turning? Nigel and I had just moved to La Pine about a week before, into the little cabin. We didn't have cable yet. (I was probably one of the only few to not watch t.v. for the first 3 days after the attack.) It was 8:00, and I had loaded up my mini van with my little boy and a bunch of laundry. I was taking him to school and then was going to go do my laundry at the La Pine Laundromat. As I was driving down Hwy 97, I turned on the radio. I was puzzled by what I was hearing. I couldn't piece together what had happened. (It ended up that I personally handled the horrible disaster on a need to know basis. I was glad that I didn't end up glued to the t.v. I still change the channel when I see the images of the towers and all those poor stunned and terrified people. Their pain just hurts me too much to watch.)

I dropped Nigel off at school and then headed over to wash my clothes. There I met Debbie. She owns the laundromat. Debbie became my first real friend in La Pine. That day, we talked about the 9/11 disaster, about life in general and about our lives in specific. Debbie is one of the sweetest, loving, true Christian women I have ever met; pure inside and out. She is still there, at the laundromat, but I don't see her very often, now that I have a washer and dryer.

One thing leads to another, and because of her and Mark, (and April and Rob) I ended up meeting my best friend husband Cary two years later. But, that is a different story; one that I think I will get around to telling pretty soon.

Anyway, that is where I was and what I was doing on that fateful day.

The end.

Mark and Debbie Prell