Shifting Gears: The Story of a Small Town Simple Man

September 11- A day that in someway has either directly or indirectly changed everone in America's (if not the world's) way of life. Whether it is a person's sense of security, travel plans, outlook on life, or the way they view their family, 9/11, as they call it, changed us all, including me. But my 9/11 didn't happen in 2001, it happened exactly two years earlier in 1999. With September 11 being my birthday, I received a unique "present" on that day that changed my life. It was then that I fi rst realized that life wasn't the fairytale world that I thought it was. As I saw my world crumble down, I had no choice but to turn a negative into a positive. Remembering the advice from a person whom I had never met telling me to believe in myself, never give up, and to never take the easy way out, I knew that I could battle through anything and win in the long run. Little did I know, that "present" was the opening to my future and to my life's goal that I was out to achieve.