Off Season
My time off from training has been a great opportunity to relax and reflect. I’ve had the chance to do some amazing things and meet some amazing people. Being on Oprah and meeting Jay Leno were definitely major highlights and something I’d only dream of being able to do. I’ve been to boxing matches, visited my old high school, walked with other Behcets patients, watched some exciting football games, I’ve been to concerts, and traveled all around the country doing appearances for my sponsors, but nothing I’ve done or seen in my time off compares to voting in this years election and going down to Dallas to visit with the Marines.
I was a registered voter in 2004 and turned in my absentee ballot as a Florida resident while going to school at UT, but it didn’t compare to standing in line in Miramar Florida, and casting my vote! It was extremely thrilling for me because you know that you are participating in something so much bigger than yourself. I could not have been more proud or more excited as I sat in bed with my fiancé and watched Barack Obama become our new President-elect. Most people said that they didn’t believe that they would live to see a black president and although I am only 23, I shared the same sentiment. It’s been a long time coming and forty years after Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I have a Dream” speech, what he longed for, and so many others with him, finally happened. A man, desiring to hold the highest office in the United States, was judged by the content of his character and not by the color of his skin! What a glorious day that was for him and so many others. I never had this much interest in politics and although I can’t speak for others, President Obama’s election has given me a new found love for this country and a desire to know all the challenges he faces and how he will fulfill his calling.
Not that I wasn’t feeling proud enough to be a naturalized American, I was then invited to Dallas to visit with the US Marines! It blew my mind. I always saw men and women in their fatigues and wondered where they were coming from or where they might be going, and I always did what I heard so many others do, salute them for their service and protecting the country, without much understanding or feeling behind it. But now I’m different. After being around these amazing men and women who VOLUNTEER to go into service to protect our country I have been humbled and made acutely aware of their significance in my life. I know I take so much for granted and if it weren’t for men and women just like me, sacrificing their life, and training harder than I ever could, I wouldn’t have the freedoms that I so fleetingly enjoy.
In closing I’ve had an amazing off season and in spite of things not going exactly as I hoped at the Beijing Olympic games I start my training with a renewed hope that all things work according to God’s great plan! If Barack Obama can become president I can be anything I want to be. Thank you Mr. Barack Obama and the US Marines for giving me the hope I truly desired……You’re the BEST!
Sanya