Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?

     Normally I would have been in front of my classroom filled with eighth graders, but on that day I had been participating in an all-day ELA curriculum meeting. There was shock when we received word of the first plane, and horror when the second plane hit.  I had been given permission to leave the meeting to accompany the assistant principal to New Bedford for the funeral of the mother of one of our colleagues.  While we were driving down there, the radio conveyed the news of the attack on the Pentagon. Horror soon turned to terror.   We continued on our way. The service was held in a Greek Orthodox Church, and though I didn't understand a word of the service, I felt comforted being in a house of worship.
     In the days that followed, it was our job as teachers to try to maintain some semblance of normalcy in our classes while understanding that sometimes students would just need to talk about what had happened. I do recall that during the school day I was steady and calm as we all tried to be for the sake of our students, but when I came home each day I would be clued to CNN and wouldn't want to leave the safety of my house for any reason.
     Allan Jackson penned a song, "Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning" which spoke to the experiences of all of us in the days and weeks that followed. There is a youtube video which captures these troubled days, When the World Stopped Turning: A 9/11 Tribute which is definitely worth viewing.