Where Were You On September 11th?

"Where were you when the world stopped turning...."  The line to the Alan Jackson song that so perfectly summed up the aftermath of September 11th.  On this, the 13th anniversary of the attacks, it's a time to honor those who lost their lives, and to reflect where we are as a nation.  One way of doing that is to remember what we were doing that day.  Where were you when the world changed?

I was working where I am now.  Doing the KHAK morning show.  At that time, I read the news.  I remember just before I was to do my 8 am update, a headline came across the AP wire that a plane had hit the World Trade Center.  They weren't sure how large the plane was, if was an accident or any other details.  That would all change dramatically in the next few minutes.  When the second plane hit, and footage came in there was no doubt that we were under attack.  Then the Pentagon got hit, and there was word another hijacked plane was in the air.  It was organized chaos at the station.  We were scrambling to get the latest developments.  We eventually reached an agreement to air live TV coverage of the events over our airwaves.

I remember going home later that afternoon and watching more coverage on the news.  It was then that everything that had happened sunk in.  It was then that 9/11 hit me.  All the emotion that had been held in because we were on the air came out.  While I didn't loose a loved one that day, I like many American's, still felt an overwhelming sense of lose.  But that feeling of lose was replaced in the coming days by things like patriotism, cooperation and hope.

13 years later many things have changed.  Sadly, some things have not.  You can argue both ways whether or not we are safer after 9/11.  One thing you can't argues is how that day changed us all.  As a nation, and as a people. Today is a day to honor and remember all those we lost 13 years ago.