I began my journey as a journalistic novice 4 years ago around this time, and received my own personal wakeup call as well - as evidenced by the following. It's a piece titled "One Moment in Time"; which I later found out was edited for content and such (topped off by a cover illustration that I did for the July 3 2002 issue of Flagpole Magazine ; which is also missing from the digital ether). Of course, there was much more that I wanted to say as an out and out subversive thinking, cynical, conspiracy theorist, however the vehicle of dispersal was a small town daily news type. So, the piece is somewhat tame. But I'll get to the realsnills later. For now...
( ...and you shall find, 2002)By drék davis
(Originally published Thursday, October 24, 2002)
Whenever I hear the suggestion that everyone remembers where they were when John F. Kennedy was shot, I wince. I wince because it seemed to be an attempt to make America a homogenous group of people that uniformly feel and respond to everything in the same way. That was until September 11, 2001.
I remember September 11 for various reasons. It began as any other day. I was doing what most of you out there were doing on that crisp, blue morning.
Sitting in my cubicle with my headphones strapped on, pounding on my keyboard and working hard like a well-trained monkey, my morning haze soon was interrupted by some incoherent chattering from my office-mates. I heard ‘New York’, ‘planes’, and ‘explosions’ slip in between the beats emanating from my headphones. I think that I was listening to The Roots, but I digress.
With my curiosity finally piqued I slid out of my cubicle to confer with my fellow Database Maintenance cohorts. They gave me the details, as they knew them, and I quickly made my way to CNN.com so that I could fill in the gaps. What I saw stunned, perplexed and worried me.
I’m a self-admitted cynic and part-time conspiracy theorist, so I knew that this day could come. But I, along with the rest of America, wasn’t prepared.
One year later-Wednesday, September 11, 2002-I was sitting in the hospital preparing to have a mammogram. Yes, I’m a dude and yes, I said mammogram. I found a small lump in my chest one day, and my doctor sent me to get an once-over.
While in the waiting room, I had an interesting conversation with a young woman about how things in the world had changed since 9-11. We waxed philosophical and political as we waited to be squeezed and prodded. And while the gravity of my visit and the date of my visit didn’t escape me, I couldn’t help but muse that just a year ago I was sitting at my desk being a good little drone. I was far removed from death and destruction from the skies, and miles away from worrying about the possibility of cancer in my body.
But all things must change…
As I chatted with my friend in the waiting room about how America should memorialize September 11, I became thankful for my brush with mortality. I was most thankful for the chance to reevaluate and remember. After all, we only have one life to live.
While pondering my life, I thought of those who had been touched by cancer or tragedy. I wondered what they were doing in the last “normal” minutes of their lives before they received the news that made them reevaluate and remember. I have friends and family that have been affected by cancer-related illness and my mammogram reminded me that we should always be diligent when it comes to our health.
According to the American Cancer Society, “189,000 new cases of prostate cancer in the United States in the year 2002. With 30,200 cases resulting in death.” The ACS also estimates that some 203,500 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed this year -1,500 of those occurring in men. Breast and prostate cancer are the second leading causes of cancer deaths, exceeded only by lung cancer.
So here’s the good word: don’t wait. Don’t wait until you receive the ‘shock of your life’ to remember how precious and important your life truly is. Someone needs and loves you. Peace to all survivors out there.
Whenever I hear the suggestion that everyone remembers where they were when John F. Kennedy was shot, I wince. I wince because it seemed to be an attempt to make America a homogenous group of people that uniformly feel and respond to everything in the same way. That was until September 11, 2001.
I remember September 11 for various reasons. It began as any other day. I was doing what most of you out there were doing on that crisp, blue morning.
Sitting in my cubicle with my headphones strapped on, pounding on my keyboard and working hard like a well-trained monkey, my morning haze soon was interrupted by some incoherent chattering from my office-mates. I heard ‘New York’, ‘planes’, and ‘explosions’ slip in between the beats emanating from my headphones. I think that I was listening to The Roots, but I digress.
With my curiosity finally piqued I slid out of my cubicle to confer with my fellow Database Maintenance cohorts. They gave me the details, as they knew them, and I quickly made my way to CNN.com so that I could fill in the gaps. What I saw stunned, perplexed and worried me.
I’m a self-admitted cynic and part-time conspiracy theorist, so I knew that this day could come. But I, along with the rest of America, wasn’t prepared.
One year later-Wednesday, September 11, 2002-I was sitting in the hospital preparing to have a mammogram. Yes, I’m a dude and yes, I said mammogram. I found a small lump in my chest one day, and my doctor sent me to get an once-over.
While in the waiting room, I had an interesting conversation with a young woman about how things in the world had changed since 9-11. We waxed philosophical and political as we waited to be squeezed and prodded. And while the gravity of my visit and the date of my visit didn’t escape me, I couldn’t help but muse that just a year ago I was sitting at my desk being a good little drone. I was far removed from death and destruction from the skies, and miles away from worrying about the possibility of cancer in my body.
But all things must change…
As I chatted with my friend in the waiting room about how America should memorialize September 11, I became thankful for my brush with mortality. I was most thankful for the chance to reevaluate and remember. After all, we only have one life to live.
While pondering my life, I thought of those who had been touched by cancer or tragedy. I wondered what they were doing in the last “normal” minutes of their lives before they received the news that made them reevaluate and remember. I have friends and family that have been affected by cancer-related illness and my mammogram reminded me that we should always be diligent when it comes to our health.
According to the American Cancer Society, “189,000 new cases of prostate cancer in the United States in the year 2002. With 30,200 cases resulting in death.” The ACS also estimates that some 203,500 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed this year -1,500 of those occurring in men. Breast and prostate cancer are the second leading causes of cancer deaths, exceeded only by lung cancer.
So here’s the good word: don’t wait. Don’t wait until you receive the ‘shock of your life’ to remember how precious and important your life truly is. Someone needs and loves you. Peace to all survivors out there.
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