Marion Ohio Downtown

"Where were you when the world stopped turning" is a song by Alan Jackson that epitomized the myriad of feelings Americans felt in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. I don't think I fully comprehended the horror that my grandparents felt on December 7, 1941 until that day. And like Pearl Harbor or the Kennedy assassination, it's one of those events that you'll always remember where you were and what you were doing when you first heard.

                                

For me, I was getting ready for a presentation I had to make at 10. I'd turned on WMRN-FM for some background music and heard Scott Shawver saying that if you were near a television, you should turn it on. It wasn't only the extremeness of having a radio announcer tell you to turn on your television that caught my attention, but the solemness of his voice that held a slight break as if he was hurting. And then I turned on the television ...

Jacque Laipply

I thought of that this morning as I listened to Jacque Laipply on the radio with Jeff Ruth. She was living and working in Manhattan then, along with her brother who worked in Tower 5 but regularly had meetings in Tower 2. He'd left his mother a message here in Marion after the first plane struck that he was okay because he was in the "other tower". Then the second plane hit and the phone service in Manhattan went down for hours. I can't even imagine what Ron and Effie went through wondering if the "other tower" was Tower 2 or even Tower 7. Thankfully, both of their children.   For many others, however, that was not the case.

So as you complete your work today and head for home, take a moment to reflect on that day. Make sure your children understand the importance of September 11 and of the sacrifices by so many firefighters, police officers, and others who died. But most importantly, as Alan Jackson so eloquently paraphrases from the book of Corinthians, "Faith,hope and love are some good things He gave us...and the greatest is love."
Take a moment tonight to hug your family and tell them you love them. 

Karen

Karen Herr

Manager, Downtown Marion, Inc.

205 West Center Street, Suite 130

Marion, OH 43302

740.382.2181