Posted by
Team Turk on Monday, September 11, 2006 4:55:46 PM
This day changed my life. My loved ones survived, although I almost lost an uncle. This day’s terrible acts weren’t perpetrated in my state. The images of homicide for religion made me sick. This day was horrific. Yet, it made me a better person.
I am not saying this day was good. It was not. It was America’s gravest hour. I am not thankful, nor grateful, nor happy for this day. All that I am, all that I will ever be is reflective… of both the person I was and the person who is typing this story.
Prior to September 11, 2001, I was not involved. I was not completely apathetic. I voted, I knew whom the President was, I did some charity work… but I didn’t want to learn beyond the basics. I avoided documentaries that I didn’t find “interesting.” I didn’t even know what the news channels were. I was a sports reporter and like most Americans, I enjoyed my life. I didn’t care about events in Washington or the other side of the world.
I won’t divulge my “I was here when…” story. All I will say is for a week, I stopped writing sports and covered the horrific events. For one week, I wrote about Colin Powell and Donald Rumsfeld, the President and his Chief of Staff, Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda. When the games resumed, I went back to covering them, thinking I was the same person…
I wasn’t.
I was curious. I started watching more news, reading more, donating my time and any money I could spare. I started to realize how much the other side of the world affects our side. I realized that I, and my generation, had a responsibility. We needed to get involved in any way that we could.
In 2003, I swapped sports for politics. I am still curious. I read more than one hundred newspapers and I watch as much news as I can. Don’t get me wrong, world events don’t consume my life. I still enjoy sports, television, and time with my family, yet I know I am a different person.
Following our national tragedy, there was talk about soul searching. Thousands of people pledged to be different. Sadly, a lot of us are not. However, our generation has come of age and is aging in a vastly different world. We have a responsibility to get involved… and stay involved.
We are the children of 9/11.
We need to be different. I know I am.
Raymond Smalley