As a U.S. Navy veteran and Vietnam War veteran, the September 11th terrorist attack on our country brought out many emotions not only from myself but my wife. My wife Laura and I were preparing to embark on the IDO World Salsa Championships in Orlando Florida, which was being combined, with the Diamond DanceSport Competition that week.

As the defending World Salsa Champions, we were very excited and had prepared and worked very hard for almost 8 months to prepare a very special routine. When my wife started screaming and crying I ran downstairs to find her viewing, like many millions of people, the attack on the World Trade Centers twin towers and the Pentagon.

To make a long story short, we were sick to our stomachs and emotionally panic-stricken. I knew at that moment that the United States was going to war. That Tuesday evening I emailed the IDO president Nils-Hakan Carlzon, the head of the IDO for the United States, Bill Fowler, and the organizers of the Diamond DanceSport event, Colin and Joy Hillary and Sam Sodano, that Laura and I will not be attending due to the tragedy that has shocked the entire free world.

Even though we were going to have financial losses, we drew the line in the sand. Subsequently, we watched as almost all major sporting events cancelled their events due to the tragedy losing millions of dollars by doing so. Major league Baseball, Basketball, Football, and Boxing, even the Latin Grammy's drew the line in the sand. What is that line? The line being drawn was finances and economics on one side and morality on the other.