I definitely felt that call, like a lot of Americans did.
I was in my thirties, but I felt like I was really starting out my life in Vermont and had these two little boys, and I quickly got involved and engaged. I've always been active, but I got engaged through my school, and then through the city of South Burlington, where we live. In 2008, I made a run for city council. I remember several people, family members, friends, saying that 9/11 was really a watershed moment for them, that that was when they decided to enter the military or to become a police officer. And when I heard them say that it really rang true for me, as I was taking on my civil service as a city councilor, that there was something that connected me to this great democracy. And it is a great democracy. It's an incredible democracy that was fragile, and that we have to keep it strong through service. I definitely felt that call, like a lot of Americans did, and I made it a part of my life. I wanted our sons, and now our daughter, to see that that service is a part of being an American that we don't have this elite political class - we shouldn't - that's not what a great democracy is. A great democracy has those citizen legislators, those people who give their time and then pass the baton on to somebody else, and we're not in it for ourselves, we're in it for this process of making sure that everybody has a voice.
Meaghan Emery
