Sean Coughlin: My Hero

"half of life is showing up", my father always said that to me, when I was growing up it took me eight years but I finally understand what he had been trying to teach me, and that lesson changed me. After spending a month at Marist College, I have come to the conclusion that my father, Sean Coughlin has made a significant impact on both my life and helped make me the independent man that I am today. My father was the oldest of his 5 siblings, and was the first Coughlin to both attend and graduate College. His family was not a rich one, The Coughlins' were a poor Irish family that came over to the United States generations ago, and had a proud history of service. Sean faced adversity throughout school, having to deal with bullies and fights. …show more content…
One of Sean's most defining traits is his commitment to both doing justice and service to others, this is due to both the values his father instill in with him and because every male Coughlin served in one form or another in the community. My father's grandfather on his mother side was a Colonel in the marine core during World War 2, where he fought in many of the major campaigns such as New Guinea and the Guadalcanal campaign. His other grandfather was the fire chief in Buffalo. His father spent his entire life serving in the United States Coast Guard, so it only makes sense that Sean would continue his family’s proud tradition of service to their community by becoming a prosecutor in one of the most dangerous parts of the country, while also continuing to be a reservist for a few years after college. It was his actions that inspired me to join Point Breeze Fire Department and become a volunteer fire …show more content…
His favorite story that he had told me multiple times was the time he convinced a helicopter pilot for New York City Police Department to let him go up with him, to observe the search for a suspect in one the cases he was trying. While many Assistant District Attorneys were out to make a name for themselves by having close to perfect records, and appearing to be tough on crime, my dad instead took as many cases as he could so he could get a feel for being a trial lawyer and made sure that he always arrested the criminal who committed the crime. His approach to crime makes a lot of sense when looking at his beliefs towards service, and the community his goal at the time was to make improve the city, not look good towards the press. Sean desired to serve on the side of justice by prosecuting criminals to the full extent of the law, public opinion of his work be damned. That said he hates the United States war on Drugs, and the creation of mandatory minimum sentences since drug users ended up slowing the down the courts do to the amount of users in the city. Sean would later marry the love his life, Sally Murphy a fellow district attorney from the Bronx. A few years later he would leave the district attorney’s office, and get a job defending stock