I remember watching a news report about Vietnam. The American GIs were combing a fairly large tract of land and they came up to an empty hut. A CBS (i think) reporter was with them, trying to get every shot in.
A GI approached the hut and lit it up with I what I thought was a silver cigarette lighter. I tried to get a copy of the news report since college. I wanted to feel and understand what I felt then. I finally saw a copy, abbreviated as it is but as moving as I first saw it when I was a child.
I remember telling my dad, I want to be a journalist. He just glanced at me and said, 'whatever you want, son.'
But I did not tell him that I also saw the child crying in his mother's arm. I wondered how will he grow up in such a violent environment.
I told myself, 'I want to be that reporter...' minus the war that he is covering.
But I also wanted that child to get the right education so that he can stop that war.
So, I did. I am now a journalists (without the war), educator (college and preschool!) and a civil servant (economic development) not military.
It took a while, but I did the minimum requirements. Now, what I do with them is the important stuff. I promised to watch the video above as an anchor for my actions.
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