Six years ago, I was sitting in a faculty meeting when a teacher came in and told us that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. Thinking it an accident, we finished our meeting and I returned upstairs to my classroom. I turned on the television in time to see what I thought was a replay of the accident, only to find out the horrible truth, that another airline had hit the other tower. It was one of those moments that you never forget, not only the event but also every detail of where you were when you witnessed the event.
For my generation, there are many of these events. It probably started with the day Kennedy was shot. There were the days Reagan was shot, Charles and Diana got married, Baby Jessica was rescued, and Challenger exploded. All of these days help define who we are because they altered us in some way. We may have lost part of our innocence, we may have grown up, we may have questioned our beliefs or strengthened our faith in God. But at each moment, we stopped and thought about our lives in light of that certain moment.
The good thing about any age is to realize that moments like this happen every day. It's easy to recognize the big moments, those that are splashed on television and you experience as part of a group. But it's the small private moments that can change us the most. Like the moment your child is born and you realize that you love someone more than yourself. Or the moment your role reverses and you become the caretaker for your parent. Or the moment you choose to end a career, or a friendship, or a marriage.
In the past 50 years, I've had all kinds of moments, both public and private, both good and bad, and both predictable and surprising. I know that I will continue to have the same in the future. But I hope by now I am better at recognizing those moments so that I can appreciate them for what they are - moments that continue to form me into that which I was created to be.
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