On September 11th, 2001 my life changed. I knew no one in the attacks. In fact, I never heard of the World Trade Center buildings until the day of those attacks. It was a normal day for me, I was in the 11th grade, and line most school age children, I was in school. It was the second class of the day, English, which always was my least favorite. It was taught by Ms. Dobson, a crazy African-American woman who claimed to be a Christian, but I don’t think she was. It was from her I first heard the wisdom, “Men want a lady in the street and a freak in the bed.” Usher would repeat that line later. The next year, Dobson was fired for hitting a parent. Point is, this lady was a bit crazy. In fact, our great school librarian, Ms. Stone, was going from room to room and saying we need to turn on the news now.
This happened in schools all over America. It did not happen the way it did in most places in Ms. Dobson’s room, she turned it on, and there was a picture of the 1st World Trade Center building after being hit. Dobson left it on for about 30 seconds, and she said the following, “We need to get back to class, watch it on the news tonight” Her tone was that it was a minor event. I trusted her judgment at the time, though I wanted to see more. Thus, unlike most people, I did not see the 2nd plane hit the 2nd tower live.
It would not be until my later classes that I understood how important these attacks were. What 9/11 did for me was take an international perspective. Often we hear the terms “pre-9/11” or “post-9/11” mindset” thrown around. For me, it is a lot more than that. Funny enough, it would be just after the 9/11 attacks that I would really start to follow politics. I grew up in a family that never talked about world events, never talked about politics. Thinking about it, I grew up one of the strangest kids ever. The typical side was my relationship with my father in regards to sports. We bonded like my father and son in Cleveland through the Cleveland Browns and Indians. Other than that though, I was secluded to my own introverted world of math, reading and sports.
In my high school years I found Rush Limbaugh on the radio one day during the summer. I found him interesting and I started to listen to him every day. It’s a funny link, but from 9/11 I went to Rush Limbaugh and from Rush I went to politics in general. By the time I graduated from high school, I knew that I wanted to be involved in the College Republicans at RIT. While at RIT, I figured out I wanted to go into politics.
Why do I point of my career path on an anniversary of such a tragic day? I just wanted to show another perspective in how a major event changes our orientation. Events that happen in your teenage years are usually those which influence you the most. It’s hard for me to see an event that shaped my worldview more than 9/11. My thoughts and prayers go out to the affected 9/11 and my thanks go out to our military to fighting the good fight 8 years after this declaration of war by our enemies.
