I understand—we’ve all had enough. And today's cancellation of the school year makes it worse. But we all have responsibilities now, one of which is to avoid imperiling others. Another is to keep yourself and your loved ones safe. Crowded school rooms and packed buses to away matches would have been deadly.
I was talking with Merc (the boy’s tennis coach) a few days ago; and during the course of the conversation I realized none of you on the team were born until after 9/11. Even for the past five or so seasons, most of my players who did remember 9/11 were too young to be shocked or shaken by it. That’s important.
We all have events that will define our lives and, in a way place markers in them. For your parents it may have been 9/11, or if they’re a little older, the Challenger Disaster. For your grandparents the assassination of John F. Kennedy. If you know people in their nineties, they may very well remember Pearl Harbor.
But for most of you, this your first “marker”—and it’s a not a pleasant one—because unlike all the others, we can’t just change the station, or feel bad and move on. All we can do is let it pass.
In many ways the past four generations of Americans have led charmed lives. Yes there have been wars and poverty and mass murders, but for 75 of those years the world has had thousands of nuclear weapons and after 1945 never used them in anger. Now, in a way, our luck ran out. We knew it was coming, it had been predicted for decades, but we all hoped it would be like the "big earthquake" in California—predicted but never happening. Today California still stands, but none of us anywhere are doing so well.
I’m not preaching, and I’m certainly not special because I lived through so many defining moments. That is proof only that I’m old. But if this is your first defining moment, what will you say about it—and about yourself—twenty years from now? Or forty? Or seventy? And will those around you have benefited from being in your circle? I hope so.
With the season gone, I'm hoping that the CIAC will allow spring sports teams to gather either formally or informally over the summer. Let's wait and see. We've done the right thing in Connecticut while other states are taking risks. I'm hoping our reward will be a summer with some normality. Have a good thought.