Where were you?

I just finished watching a show on John F. Kennedy.  For those of us old enough, each one of us likely knows the exact place we were when we heard the news.  I was in 5th grade, Mrs. Ramaker's class.  She was called out of the room and we could see her hand go over her mouth as in making some sort of gasp.  Bobby Chrastil (R.I.P.), being the kind of kid he was slipped out our classroom door to hear the news that was being delivered to our teacher.  He is the one that actually delivered the news to the entire 5th and 6th grades (at that time our school housed two grades per one classroom) although I must admit his delivery was not quite that of Mrs. Ramaker's.  She was able to explain the ramificatations for us as a nation and the significance of it all.  It was the first time I really thought about how the world works together and that there was in fact life beyond the boundaries of Saline County.

For the people of the next generation your reference to news like that would be the bombing of the twin towers.  I am quite certain we all know exactly where we were when we heard the news.  By that time I was old enough to appreciate the ramifications of this horrific act upon the free world.  It is hard to think that there are now humans "out there" that only know of this incident because of history books.  If you think about it, children who were born in 2001 are now 10 years old, likely in the 5th grade and learning from their teachers that there was life before TSA security lines at airports.

We have all had our personal moments that we will never forget that have shaped us individually, made our lives better or worse, or forced us to make different decisions based on the "bump in the road".  There are not a whole lot of moments that have shaped us as a nation where our experiences are similar because of something that happened to us as Americans.  Yes there are degrees of this experience.  I know one young man that lives in New Jersey, an hour's train ride from Manhattan.  His rendition of this experience and the terror that ensued for people in that area heightens the reality of what happened and how individual families were impacted.  For some of them, personal defining moments were sadly created.

In the end for me it has made me revisit how significant moments like these create people who share one common demoninator - we are Americans who love our country and our humanity for all is brought to bear in critical universal moments such as those described above.  Sometimes terrible things happen that bring out the best of what people can be.  We can all do better and it shouldn't take an act of terrorism for us to do something special for our neighbor.  Can you do better?  I am going to try.