Seven years ago, so many lives changed forever. Our country, changed forever. It's hard for the calendar to roll around to this day without going back and remembering where I was at the moment the attacks occured. I was in college, in the middle of moderating a class. The administrative assistant for the floor came in to tell me that a plane had flown into one of the Twin Towers in New York and they thought it was an accident. She said she would keep me posted. Being the complete news junkie that I am and having visited the Twin Towers, I knew it would be difficult for a plane to hit one of them. I immediately dismissed the class and went to the television in the lobby, right before the second tower was hit. The room was overflowing with students and professors, all watching the events unfold live, in complete silence. As the second tower was hit, the room erupted in gasps and tears. We were sitting hundreds of miles away in SC but our hearts were right there wih every other American...feeling completely helpless.

 

When it became clear that it was a terrorist attack, class was canceled, so I walked to my car, almost in shock. I called my mom and told her I loved her. I went and ate lunch with my best friend at a sports bar. All the TVs were tuned to the events unfolding in New York, Washington, DC and Pennsylvania. The room was silent. My friend had to go to work, I went to the local blood center. Everyone thought there was going to be a huge need for blood. At least that was something I could do. When I got there, there wasn't anywhere to park. People were wrapped around the building. Like so many others that day, I gave blood, and ended up hanging around, handing out drinks, taking phone calls, trying to be useful.

 

We tuned in to watch President Bush address the nation, we stayed up all night watching the horror on TV. The next day, no one on campus talked about anything but the events. We planned vigils. We prayed. It was all we could do.

 

Seven years removed from that day, I'm now a mother. This morning I sat in the kitchen eating breakfast with my son, who is 5, as they showed the events in real time on TV. He and I talked in kid terms about good and evil, about death, and mostly about life. He talked about soldiers. He thinks they are great and I do too! We talked about serving our country. Ways we could help our country be better. Isn't that the lesson we can draw from this horrible event? Isn't that how we should honor the people who so courageously rushed into those towers to rescue people and those who took the plane down over Pennsylvania? We serve. Whatever it is, we make the country and our world a little better. If we serve for something greater than ourself, we never forget.

September 10, 2008

 

I am tired of watching the news!  It seems that much of the media has woken up from their nearly two year lovefest with Barack Obama to realize that while they were fawning all over him and throwing him softball questions, McCain landed a left-handed uppercut square in their jaw with the announcement of Sarah Palin. Now, they are doing everything they can to discredit her and her experience. I admit that there is a lot to still learn about Governor Palin. Even though I already know that I don't agree with her on all of the issues, I have no doubt that her resume' is full of many more qualifying markers than what I have seen out of Barack Obama.

 

Sarah Palin has been a mayor and a governor. Granted, Alaska isn't the most populated state but the functions of the government are still a microcosm setup of the one in Washington, DC. She is a mother--a working mother--and as someone that used to work full time outside the home with children, I know she is a magnificent multi-tasker! What makes me like her most, even when I disagree with her on some issues, is that she is a real person. She admits that her family isn't perfect, she made tough choices even when the easy thing to do would have been more politically expediant and less embarrassing. She drives herself to work, buys her own groceries, cooks her own food, pumps her own gas (something Hillary Clinton hadn't done is nearly a decade!), and probably remembers what it is like to live paycheck to paycheck sometimes, like many Americans. Her life experience and her political experience are already stacking deeper than Senator Obama's.

 

I give Obama credit for winning a seat in the Illinois State Senate, after working tirelessly to have his opponents thrown off the ballot. His actions were legal but show a poltical shrewdness and shallow respect for democracy. But you know, rules are rules. I also give him credit for those 130 present votes he made in the Illinois State Senate. That was politically savy, but shows he couldn't or wouldn't take a stand...probably to help future ambitions...afterall, he's been hoping to be president since he was 5. I give him credit for winning a seat in US Senate. He co-sponsored a minor bill on ethics reform, but I can't find anything else of significance. He Chairs a sub-committee on Afghanistan and talks a lot about it being the front line in War on Terror but hasn't actually held any meetings about it. I guess he's too busy running for President. In fact, most of the time he has been in the Senate, he's been running for President. Oh yeah, though, running a campaign (stock full of campaign managers) is executive experience. I give him credit for talking about change and giving great speeches. As an agent of change who plans to break the bi-partisan grip in Washington, he has voted with his party 97% of the time. I guess that is better than voting present. He took a stance against the war in Iraq and opposed the surge but isn't willing to admit in the slightest bit that the surge work. Heck, to him the Iraqis and the Sunni Awakening, not our troops, get majority of the credit. It's above his pay grade, as a Senator running for President, to make a judgment about when life begins. Afterall, he is asking us to vote on him based on his judgement, not his experience, right? I give him credit for ending his association with Reverend Wright once the political winds made it impossible for him to remain close to him. Try not to remember his association lasted more than 20 years. He didn't hear Rev. Wright make any of those nasty comments. Since he wasn't there, he couldn't make a judgement about him. I give Senator Obama credit for being a charismatic man with a lot of talent. He can give a rousing speech that really can inspire us to want to be better. But when it comes down to it, he doesn't really stand for anything but words. His judgement told him to stand on dreams and pretty words or just to be present. His judgement has never required him to make tough decisions, like honor the code of his country and remain a POW like Sen. McCain or decide to keep a child that had special needs like Gov. Palin. His judgement said being present was simply enough.

 

I think everyone in this race has a compelling life story. Most Americans do. It is what makes America unique. Time will tell whether Governor Palin's resume' can stand up to the VP test. For me, Barack Obama's resume', above all else, says he is a Political Wimp!