Moon's Minute: A Lot to Think About

One of the NFL's all-time greats, Warren Moon will be contributing a weekly column to NFLHS.com this season. An outstanding quarterback at every level, Moon played 17 years in the NFL and six years before that in the CFL. He owns the NFL record for most passes completed in a season (404, 1991), is second in NFL history in passing yards-per-game (527, vs. Kansas City, Dec. 16, 1990), and stands third in the NFL record books in passing attempts and completions. The 1977 Pac 8 Player of the Year for the University of Washington and an All-American at Hamilton High School in Los Angeles, Moon is not only a leader on the field. He was named the NFL Man of the Year in 1989 for the tremendous work he does with numerous charitable organizations.

The last few days I've been thinking a lot about high school students and athletes, and how they are coping with the events of the past few weeks. Of course there have been tragic events in high schools in this country over the past couple of years, but basically growing up as a teenager in America all you have had to worry about is coming to school, figuring out what extra-curricular activities you want to do, and what to do with your social time.

When I was in high school, the Vietnam War was coming to an end, and it was a concern of mine that I might have to go to war. It was a really big concern - almost a fear - of mine, that I was going to be drafted. My older sister's boyfriend had gone over to Vietnam, and he was killed by a land mine, so I saw how devastated she was when she found out that she never was going to see him again. I was the only male in my family, so it was a very scary time, thinking about whether or not I was going to go to war or whether I was going to be able to continue my academic and athletic careers.

With the events of the past few weeks, I think there is a whole new consciousness among kids as to what they are thinking of when they wake up in the morning. There is a possibility that there could be a military draft, which I'm sure a lot of high school kids never thought about except as a last option. Most of these kids have never lived through a war, and suddenly that is a real possibility. Kids like the rest of us have never been exposed to this type of terrorism in America. Today's high school kids were pretty young during the World Trade Center bombing seven or eight years ago so they probably weren't even really aware of what was going on then. The patriotism that these kids are seeing and contributing to is also something they probably have never experienced before.

There are so many things that high schoolers have to think about right now that it's probably taking them away from thinking about music videos or video games, worrying about what they are going to wear to school, or how they are going to look at some party. I don't think those things are as important to them as they used to be. In some ways it's good, but it's sad it had to take a tragedy like this to shake up these young people.

In my own family, we always talk about current events, whether we are at home sitting around the dinner table, talking over the phone, or going out to dinner. With these recent events, as a parent I just wanted to listen to my childrens' opinions and feelings on everything that's going on and chime in on areas where they voice some concern. Basically, I wanted to hear what they have to say, instead of me giving them my opinions without hearing them out first. Once I knew how they were feeling, then I knew where to fill in and answer any questions they want to have answered.

I hope that everything that has happened in the past few weeks makes today's high school kids realize that they can't take anything for granted. I know there are a lot of them out there that are - and have been - really dedicated to their academics and athletics, but I'm sure there's a degree of kids that haven't taken things as seriously as they should have before. This whole thing shows that tomorrow is not guaranteed for any of us, we have to live life to its fullest and do your best at everything you do all the time, whether its in the classroom or on the athletic field.

Come back next week for more from Warren Moon!