March 26, 2012
Ben Anderson
Trumbull High School
My life finally seemed like it was going the right way. It was January 2007, I was in
Seventh grade, and my dad was finally coming home for a visit. It was only two weeks,
but he told me that he would definitely find the time to see me wrestle at the middle
school. I couldn’t believe that I was in the Trumbull Youth Wrestling Program! My dad
had been a head wrestling coach at Norwalk High School, and he had ALWAYS wanted
me to wrestle, but I never thought I liked the sport. Dad used to always take me to his
practices when I was little. I thought it was hard. You had to work out every day, sweat
like crazy, and pretty much get beat up! That year my father went to Afghanistan with the
Connecticut National Guard. I wanted to do something that would make him proud.
Wrestle. My mom said I was “the man of the house” and I wanted to be just like him.
When dad came home for those two weeks from Afghanistan it was a pivotal point in my
life. He had been in a bad accident just the week before he came home. His Humvee hit a
roadside bomb and his friend was killed. Hurt with a concussion and shrapnel wounds in
his arms, but he was still coming home. My mom told me he had received a Purple Heart,
but I didn’t know what that was. I was so happy to see him! He didn’t talk about the
accident, but said he must return to Afghanistan and would be home by summer. Dad
came to wrestling everyday those two weeks he was home. Turns out, he knew my coach
and he asked dad to be a guest coach! My friends were surprised that my dad knew about
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wrestling. He got their attention. He was firm but they really liked him. I loved my
“quality time” with him.
Back from Afghanistan, Dad was offered a job as Head Wrestling Coach at THS. He
asked me how I felt about that. I really loved wrestling now and couldn’t wait to be on
the team and hang out with him.
I had great wrestling successes after that. I won the State LL’s twice. I won the FCIAC’s
and qualified for New England’s twice. I won my 100th career match. Dad had great
successes also. He built an amazing team at THS. He started out with 20 wrestlers and
grew the team to over 60. He was voted best FCIAC Coach of the Year and recently best
LL coach in the state.
My world changes here. I am highlighting this part in grey because it has been the darkest
days of my life. I will tell you my name now, because everyone knows it anyway. It’s
been in the paper over and over again…Ben Anderson. I was recently senior captain of
the wrestling team and about to graduate. I worked very hard to improve my GPA and
was accepted to Roger Williams University. My dad and I had wonderful school
experiences together as coach and student. I wanted to be just like him. A teacher, a
coach, a hero. Then I killed someone. A car accident that I will regret until the day I die.
My life was “so busy”…under pressure. Homework, practice, SAT’s, college
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applications. Rushing around…no time. I didn’t think about texting and driving. I just did
it. When I drove to school I stayed in touch with friends. I killed another student who was
walking to school because I was distracted. Now I have all the time in the world. In jail. I
didn’t realize how good I really had it. I never paid attention to the news about texting
and driving. My parents always warned me whenever I got into the car. What happened
to me? I could have been a teacher and coach and taught the sport I loved. My father
risked his life for his country. He spent two years in hell so his son could have a future. I
ended up throwing it away because of a careless, stupid mistake.
It’s ironic now how I really have become a teacher. But not the teacher I thought I would
be. I now teach students about distracted driving based on my sad life when I visit
schools. Learn from my mistake. There are so many things I could have done differently.
Please don’t end up like me.