light watcher.com: http://www.lightwatcher.com/old_lightbytes/firefighter_day.html Boy's Fight for Firefighter's 'Day' December 16, 2001 - By Indrani Sen STAFF WRITER http://www.newsday.com/news/printedition/longisland/ny-lifire162511750dec16.story Connor Geraghty had planned to be a plastic surgeon. That is, until the 14-year-old lost his father, FDNY Deputy Chief Edward Geraghty, in the attack on the World Trade Center. Now, he plans to be a firefighter. What he didn't plan is that he would become an activist along the way. It all started with a simple thought he had while browsing Internet sites about the firefighters lost Sept. 11. "I just felt that they were so overlooked until now," said Geraghty, of Rockville Centre. "They should have been recognized before this happened." So he shot off an e-mail to politicians and friends with a suggestion: "In honor of the bravery, courage, and determination of American firefighters, there should be a day in our nation to celebrate and appreciate their hard-work and never-ending passion for saving lives...I'm starting a petition for a National Firefighters Day." He signed the e-mail with his name, adding "I love u, DAD!!!" More than 40,000 people have responded by adding their names to the petition or writing back personally to Geraghty, he said. An Internet company employee from Tucson, students from California, even tribal leaders from Africa have written to express support and ask if there is any way they can help. "I've gotten responses from even a 75- or 85-year-old woman living in a nursing home," he said. "I got a response from an 8-year-old boy the other day...Most people are better than you expect them to be." The e-mails have almost all been positive about the idea of a National Firefighters Day, but many simply respond to the plea of a boy who lost his dad. "I feel your pain," read one e-mail. "If u ever want to chat about it...I'm on aol." "I don't know what to say, really," wrote a firefighter from Louisiana. "But I do [know] one thing, that if they say that firefighters need us we are on our way." Geraghty's AOL account, which holds 1,000 messages, is constantly full. Between school, homework, and extracurricular activities, he puts in an hour or two a day, clearing a couple of hundred messages. "And they fill back up in about two hours," he said. The FDNY Commissioner, Thomas Von Essen, presented the petition to President George W. Bush last month when he visited Washington. And the Queen of England, along with Prime Minister Tony Blair, specially requested that Geraghty and his mother accompany a delegation of New York firefighters on a trip to England. Geraghty, a freshman at Kellenberg Memorial High School in Uniondale, did not go because the trip would mean missing more days of school. Geraghty's state senator, Dean Skelos, has promised he will introduce a resolution in January urging the U.S. Congress to establish National Firefighters Day on Feb. 10, Edward Geraghty's birthday. Originally, Geraghty suggested the day should be Sept. 11, but, he said, "I realized right away that day should be for everyone, the civilians, the firefighters, everyone." A bill is already in the works seeking to designate Sept. 11 Patriot Day. It's now waiting for approval by the president after clearing both houses. But Geraghty is adamant that a separate day for firefighters is necessary, not just for those who died in the World Trade Center. "I think it should be a day to recognize anyone who's ever been a firefighter," he said. "People think the sports figures and the actors and actresses are the heroes. These are the people who really are the heroes." He and his mother, Mary Geraghty, are trying to contact other politicians, including senators Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer, and trying to learn the process for designating national holidays. How the day would be celebrated is still up for discussion. "Sure, we'd love to see banks and schools and the federal government close," Mary said. "But it's money. Face it, it's hard to get a national holiday passed...We want it to be a day where there's a moment of prayer. We don't want it to be a day where Hallmark just makes money." It may be a long road, she acknowledged, but her son is determined. "This is not just a young child channeling his grief," she warned. "Don't think, 'Oh, isn't this charming, isn't this lovely.' He's serious. He wants to get this done." Copyright © 2001, Newsday, Inc.