I just remembered something very interesting. Before John F. Kennedy became President of the United States, he was a senator and he came to Brooklyn NY to campaign and shake everyone's hands. I was in front of my school and my church (with a big crowd). I got a good look at this young guy (JFK), smiling and reaching for everyone's hand. I put my hand up and I shook his hand.

Holy Cow!!! I actually shook JFK's hand while he was campaigning. I'll never forget that one!!!

the loss of the crew of space shuttle Columbia on Feb 1st 2003 is something I remember well. because we live about 50 miles due west of the Space Coast here in flat Florida, we go in the backyard to watch the shuttles take off (spectacular!)
We experience the sonic booms at re-entry too

when Columbia was sheduled to return, I was helping as a judge for a large State debate tournament that my son's school had entered, and all judges used the media center of the school where tournament was being held as our rec room in between judging rounds. Anyway, they had the overhead TVs on for us to watch the landing and I remember the shock and grief in the room when the reality of what was happening became so horribly clear

It was decided to let the tournament finish, but word soon began to spread amongst the kids too.

One of the youth pastors at our church is a KSC engineer and he had to go to Texas for long stretches at a time afterward, when the search for remnants of the shuttle was ongoing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_S...umbia_disaster

on a happier note I do remember watching the launch of the first shuttle to go back up after the tragedy -- Discovery on July 26 2005 -- and as the fireball in the sky turned into that trail of smoke as they soared out of view, I was praying for their safety, and remembering those on Columbia and their families who must have had such mixed emotions that day

In honor of the upcoming Olympics being held in China:

1. The Tank Man of Tiananmen Square 1989 - This is of the brave student that brought a line of tanks to a halt. Just as brave was the driver of the tank that did not want to run him over.

2. Nadia Komenich 1976 - She was the first gymnast to score a perfect 10 in the Olympics. I was in awe.

3. Massacre of Israeli athletes 1972 - This was disgusting. The subsequent events were equally loathsome.

4. Greg Louganis 1988 - He really banged his head on the board during that dive.

5. Mary Lou Retton 1984 - I remember her horse vault on just one leg. I think that is being replayed right now.

6. Mark Spitz 1972 - I remember he won 5 gold medals in swimming. There was a pin-up poster of his in his bathing suit wearing all the gold medals.

Olympic coverage is no where near as good as it used to be. Seems like on US channels, only our athletes are covered, ad nauseum. There are so many interesting competitions, rifle shooting and trampoline jumping. I care more about the actual trials than at length biographies of only our athletes.

No matter who wins the gold, I want to see that!

I remember John Glenn orbiting the Earth on February 20, 1962, on the Mercury Atlas mission... I was six... I remember the splashdown, and the tickertape parade.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Glenn

November 25, 1963 - the funeral of John F. Kennedy... I remember crying, not for the President, (although he was very important to our family and parish, being the first Catholic president) I was crying for Caroline, who was the same age as me, and had lost her daddy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_f...ohn_F._Kennedy

I had the hardest time wrapping my child's mind around death, and started sleeping with the light on, and being afraid of the dark, and worrying about losing my dad whenever he was late getting home.

I remember the Be-In at Golden Gate Park on January 14, 1967... I was ten, and my father took our whole family to a picnic in GG Park that day. I remember the clowns, and the hippies, and the swirly skirts and the long hair, and the beginning of the Summer of Love in the Haight Ashbury... our dad took us for walks around the block in San Francisco, and we got bead necklaces and feathers, and learned to make a Peace Sign.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_of_Love

a few years later, when the Catholic Church added a Peace part to the regular mass, we six kids would flash each other the hippie peace sign, instead of the usual hand shake.

The priest would say a prayer and end with the words of Jesus saying "I leave you peace, my peace I give you. Now let us all offer one another the sign of peace."

http://www.associatedcontent.com/art...u_entered.html

I remember the day Nixon resigned with extraordinary vividness... it was August 8, 1974, and I had just turned 17... I remember being VERY glad:

"By taking this action, I hope that I will have hastened the start of the process of healing which is so desperately needed in America."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv...s/080974-3.htm

now, if only the current crop of criminals would be so kind as to repeat that favor.

Be forewarned, this is gloomy, but I predict that based on history, it will prove accurate. Hence, in twenty years when someone starts this thread again, you can point out this date: July 18, 2008....

This is the date that we realized that history repeats itself, over and over and over...

Today is July 18, 2008, which is the same financially as July 18, 1929...

History repeats itself, over and over and over...

We are going to spend the next six months in a massive consolidation mode. We will sell everything that is not absolutely necessary, pay all of our debts and hold on tight. About 90% of our income will be used to accomplish this task, as things will be getting very tough economically very soon for all of us.

-Vic

November 9th, 1989: The fall of the Berlin wall on every television channel. I was so impressed by the energy and enthusiasm of that crowd as they knocked it down. We have a piece of it here in Grand Rapids and it's easy to stare at it and imagine all the historical meaning involved in it.

Cyn, this thread has motivated me! I'm going to take a ride into the city today and finally go see Gerald Ford's tomb. I remember wondering why the odd landscape at the new museum, now I know that it was pre-planned to become his final resting place.


Quite true, Vic, quite true. I'm currently reading The Fourth Turning by Strauss and Howe and it is fascinating. These guys have documented the ebb and flow of historical trends to the Nth degree and it is a very impressive analysis of world cycles. I recommend it not as a prophecy, but as a way to broaden horizons within one's own mind.

They have published a follow-up, Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation and that is my next book choice.

Victor,
Pearl Jam had a song with a line that went something along the thought "When you don't learn from history you're doomed to repeat it" (I can't remember the exact words...I know you all understand)

It's frightening in one aspect...it's all a house of cards, and there's an ill wind blowing. The other aspect is, we're all going to sink together, 'cause there are NO lifeboats for us regular people. Que sera sera...

Who'd want to be president with this catastrophe coming?

LOL, did they know George Santayana?

as someone has called moi, "Phony Phwench Man" which is totally true...LOL

My American History didn't start until I was 10.

The next few years, I was too busy in the ESL and trying to fit in and getting dx with what was wrong with me...

I couldn't walk when I was around the age of fourteen and basically stayed in my room/hospital most of the year that year...

so when Lennon died and Reagan got shot, I was not clueless but didn't cared...

I learned to love the Beatles much later and learned to love Lennon. But it was when George Harrison died that it broke my heart. He was my favorite Beatle, still is...

the day the Challenger launched, we were in class. My best friend James was one of the few kids that owned a VCR at the time, he taped it. When we heard about it in school, we were all in shock. I went to his house after school and hung out with him the rest of the day. We took his parents VCR and we taped and looped the event over and over. He was an electronics genius and he dubbed over some of it with a tribute...I remember we sat there and watched it over and over again. Seeing her mom baffled image over and over again...it STAMPED deep into our hearts...

few weeks later, he and I found some carvings of someone saying that he would shoot himself. We didn't take it seriously cause he was very popular....that night, he shot himself....

gun control became a very heated debate in our school the rest of that year...(please do NOT let this become a subject of debate and respect the original poster's intention: memory sharing and where we were in in our own history when it happened. )

We felt awful after we found out. Depression and suicde was taboo-ed back then(still are to some degree this day) and we both changed that day, I think...we never really talked about it afterwards and it wasn't until a couple of years ago, I confided in Alffe in private about it....and finally some weeks ago, I finally posted about it in the SOS forum....

space shuttle Columbia on Feb 1st 2003, da wife and I were still just friends. We went to Wisconsin to honor an old friend's wish who'd just passed away. We took her son, "D", and grandson, Eli, up to Egg Harbor and we were in the Comfort Inn hotel and we saw Columbia on the news. I remember just watching da wife, "D", and Eli, who was barely 1 year old. The expressions of "D" and his reactions somehow transferred to Eli and he started to fidget...I went to get him and as I held him, his sweet face contrasted greatly with that from the adults. His was the face of sweetness and innocence...while the adults were those of shocked and pain and uncertainty...


the day of 9-11, I had my b-10 tumor (it was better than a benign) removed that morning and I went home. When I woke up, I was still pretty drugged up and when I turned the TV on, I had thought it was a television show or something. It was when an actual news caster that reported when I realized that it was real...

in my groggy state, I called my mom...she confirmed it...

I remember that my heart sank deeply while I felt tremendous guilt cause earlier that morning, I was just worried about how my tumor was going to affect me and how I was going to be in pain the next few days and I was whine-whine-whining...

it still feels surreal as I am typing this out...

Tiananmen Square and Berlin wall were such contradictions for me that year...on one side, we have people that were being walled up, on the other side, people were tearing the wall down...

a few of my relatives, mostly scholars, were either hurt or killed at the square...I have never met any of them. Only know that I was related to them.

During the beginning of the last Dynasty of China (Qing, in case some were wondering) , scholars were persecuted as well as prosecuted. They had a mini cultural revolution which once again, killed some of my ancestors cause they were outspoken scholars...

during the communist China, once again, some of my erudite ancestors/relatives were challenged/jailed/or killed...

when I was young, I remember that my parents were always telling me I shouldn't say this or that cause they can end up in jail just because of something that I could've said...

anyways, I am really digressing here....

I am proud to be an American these days. (and to sooth those minds that were wondering, we have cats, but they are ALL safe... )

Wow, Moi, what can I say? You come from good stock. Brave people, your ancestors & relatives. And you too!