"I know where I was when...." World events we never forget

There are many events where I know exactly where I was when I heard them: I was entering the dining room of a hostel in Lucknow, India, when I heard that the Vietnam war had ended.


Someone had heard the news on the radio, and I still remember the wonderfulfeeling of hope it gave me. I could not believe that a war that I had read about, and seen horrible pictures of, for almost half my lifetime, was actually over.

 It was teatime, and over tea and snacks in Isabella Thoburn College, we discussed the implications….who knows what we discussed?!

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I was with my family in Amritsar, when we heard that man had reached the moon. Then, I was still in school, in Amritsar.; and that too, had given such a sense of wonder; of something unbelievable; hearing those immortalized words of Neil Armstrong. I wanted to become an astronaut.
That dream is still there. But now I’ve found other ways of traveling through space.
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And the time when Jawaharlal Nehru died.  That was in 1964. Many on Zaadz weren’t even born then! Bauaji, as we called my paternal grandmother, was visiting us in Delhi; and insisted that we went to see his body as it lay in state. That was such a sad day. I couldn’t see anything in the crowd, and a kind policeman lifted me on his shoulders so I could see Chacha Nehru, the beloved uncle of kids.

His daughter, Indira Gandhi, sat at a chair near his head. And that day, and for many years after that, there was a slight tremor in Delhi. An earthquake of a slight magnitude.

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Where were you when…..what do you remember?

[Original thread title:I know where I was when I heard that the Vietnam war was over”- changed Feb. 28 09]

Re: I know where I was when I heard that the Vietnam war was over

I was a senior in high school. We had bells that rang hourly and they set them to ring and ring and ring….

:)

Re: I know where I was when I heard about..Princess Di

Ah, you remember that too. Any other event that sticks out in your mind? I know! I remember whereeach member of the family was, when we heard that Princess Di had died. OBviously, the collective etheric heart needed to open at that time.

Re: I know where I was when I heard about..Princess Di

Let's see here
When  John F Kennedy was shot-I was five years old and was sent home from morning kindergarten early-and was mad because they were showing some guy in a box with soliders-insted of Bugs Bunny.

When the Viet Nam war was over-I was in eighth grade and was dissapointed because now there would be no more anti-war ralleys to go to and no more cute college guys to meet and lie about my age to.

When Princess DI was killed, I had just come in from work and my then 11 year old daughter told me.

boy I was a pretty shallow kid!!!!

Re: I know where I was when I heard about..

Shallow or not; you remember where you were at those times. I wonder what other events people 50 years and above remember definitively.
Those moments in time that just stand still; like a snapshot.

Re: I know where I was ..Berlin wall falling

Thanks to Albert's blog, I remembered another momentous event in our life: the falling of the Berlin wall. There were so many stories before that [all in Reader's Digest] of brave people who crossed it in creative ways, from East to West.

i remember sending letters to my uncle and addressing them  to “West Germany”. And then suddenly one day [ok, more] it was over. The wall was broken. It was an unbelievable experience, even from so far away as India. Liberating. Releasing. Relief that there was not much more bloodshed. Truly a miraculous occurence in the history of humankind.

But do I remember where exactly I was? Somehow, no. It was a few days…and somehow maybe I forgot because in our 30s there are so many things we are doing?

All I know is; it was the last few months before my son was born….
And how strange it seemed at first to address letters to my uncle and friends, to “Germany”.

Re: I know where I was ..Berlin wall falling

Meenakshi,

indeed this event of fall of the wall was the strongest for me too. As I am living in Berlin since 1980.

Fascinating that even 2 months before nobody saw it coming.Its a kind Chaos phenomenon, so typically for rapid change. Lots of preparing streams of change has happened before.

This year, 2009 , we celebrate 20 years after fall of the wall. Probably President Obama will be guest in Berlin.

I know other “walls” can be broken too.

Re: I know where I was ..Berlin wall falling

Yes; it was momentous this year, Albert. I thought of you as I heard the news. I was telling my children that as I remember it, when this happened, it was as if hope dawned again in human affairs. It had seemed like a wall that would never fall and then suddenly one day, it just did. With joy.

Re: I know where I was ..Berlin wall falling

Yes. Timothy Garton Ash, a historian , journalist and author from UK, who really is deep in the short history of globalization wrote about it . I linked it here:

1989!

What indeed will be in 2019?

Best,

Albert

Re: "I know where I was when...." World events we never forget

gina said Today, 7:52 AM:

 
Meenakshi:
I really don’t remember when we got a color TV set but I do remember what I was doing when the most tragic things had happen to our nation and the world:
1963: I was just four years old and my sister was two, we were sitting in the living room on the floor with my dad watching TV (black and white) and watching and re-watching the assaination of JFK.
In 1968: Three things had happened that year, or maybe two-I was riding my bicycle outside our home and I came in the house and I remember hearing about the Tate Lobianco murders by the infamous Charlie Manson Clan and the assaination of RFK by Sirhan Sirhan.
1985:  I was home sick with the flu and I was watching TV and I was watching the shuttle liftoff and within a few seconds into liftoff, the shuttle exploded.  I could not believe my eyes. Horror and sadness of all the lives that were affected by that incredible and tragic day.
1997: Two things that year, the death of Princess Diana and the plane crash that killed JFK, Jr, his wife and her sister.  I remember getting a call from my exhusband and he told me to watch tv.  Rachel and I sat and watched the events unfolding until they pronounced Diana dead and I had to go to work the day of her funeral but since the funeral was taking place in London on Septmember 6, I was able to watch the whole thing.  She was an inspiration to everyone.  
2001:  Who could forget it.  I was at work when the phone rang.  It was greg and he asked me what I was doing.  I was the manager of a video chain and I was doing my morning paperwork before the store was to open at 10.  He told me to turn on the TV.  Well, you know what I saw just as the world had seen.

It is amazing what we can remember when the most incredible events happen. We know what we were doing and what we doing right down to the second.

Re: "I know where I was when...." World events we never forget

Yes! Tragic events DO seem to stick in our minds.  These are like bookmarks in our memory. 

Is there a way of making them “larger”–in other words, when we are IN those moments, we are shocked. Later, we become more emotional. Perhaps even later, like now, when we’re looking back at them, we can have a different perspective. See how we personally, the country, the world, the earth, has moved. 

Like spiralling out and in , and seeing it from a larger or smaller perspective. I find that a very useful way of looking at these bookmarks in our memory. They still stay as tragic, but perhaps we get that historical perspective of what was accomplished or changed as a result of that.

Re: "I know where I was when...." World events we never forget

January 28, 1986, yes, I remember the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, too.  I was visiting my friend when she received a phone call from someone telling her about it.  She didn’t have a TV and I wasn’t sure if I should believe it or not.  We went over to my house and turned on the TV and it started to feel more real.  All I could think of was the students at school that were watching it as it happened.  My son Jon was 8 years old and carried around a little space shuttle toy in his pocket at all times, so I wondered how he was doing.  He was the space nut in our family!  He got to meet an astronaut when he came to a program at Mystic Aquarium.  Our kids (we had six of them between us) came home from school chattering away about the disaster.  Jon was in a very solemn mood, though, and he asked for details and we watched the TV for a little while.  Then he wondered if this would be the end of the space program.  I felt so wise at that moment because I knew the answer (so many of his questions I had no answer for…) - I told him, no, the space program would continue because mankind’s curiosity would keep us accepting the risks involved in order to continue exploring the universe.