Topic # 12 - Great Moments in History

The ClubHouse: The Game - Play Room: General Discussions: Topic # 12 - Great Moments in History
The History channel fills the screen 24/7 with images of important events from the past. Sometimes these stories remind us of our own experiences.

Most people can remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when a particular news event occurred. For example, if we were a bit older, we might remember what we were doing when we heard the Titanic had sunk or the Hindenberg had crashed.

Name three news events that have occurred in your lifetime and tell us what you were doing and where you were when you heard the news. How did you feel at that moment? If you see something about that news item, are you instantly transported to the point when you first heard about it?

We realize this will effectively date some of you. In the interests of fair play, here are three news items from our list:
  • Assasination of John F. Kennedy
  • Murder of John Lennon
  • Explosion of the space shuttle Challenger
Since we're in charge, we won't share what we were doing when these events occurred. Not everything is fair!

Himay10ns

Sunday, October 29, 2000 - 08:12 am Click here to edit this post
1. The assassination of JFK was about two weeks before my time! It occured on November 22, 1963 and I was born on December 4th. I was about 38 weeks in utero so I don't remember much about the incident. I was busily sleeping and growing. :) My parents were living in Selma, Alabama. My father was a 2nd Lt. in the Air Force going through pilot training. My mother has told me that she was at home alone when it happened. She was mopping floors and eating mexican food trying to go into labor! What I remember more is the shooting of President Ronald Reagan. His shooting occured on March 30, 1981. I was a senior in high school and I was sitting in the shampoo chair at the beauty parlor. There was a small TV on in the shop and we were all clustered around listening to the breaking news report. I can remember it like it was yesterday...

2. The murder of John Lennon occured December 8, 1980. I was also a senior in high school and I had just turned 17. I had recently had all four of my wisdom teeth cut out and I was home from school with swollen, purple cheeks. I wasn't really ever a big fan of the Beatles but I think John Lennon was a great leader in the history of Rock & Roll music. He was very gifted in expressing himself and his music will live on forever.

3. This third incident hits much closer to home. I'll explain that in a minute. The Challenger exploded on January 28, 1986. I was working in Dallas, TX and I happened to be off that day. I was at home laying on the couch watching soap operas. The Challenger exploded 73 seconds after launch and I was stunned. There was so much talk of the school teacher that was on board. I myself have a teaching degree and I related to Christa McAuliffe and what she was trying to do for teachers all over the world. A few years later I moved to San Antonio, TX and I was working as a volunteer leader for a group called Young Life. Young Life is a youth ministry that concentrates its efforts with high school age children. I became very close to one of the other volunteers and we began leading a sophomore girl's bible study in my home. One day, during bible study, Alison gave her testimony. It included the fact that her father, Michael Smith, had been the pilot of the Challenger. She went on to give her account of how that had affected her life and her relationship with God. It was the most moving testimony I've ever heard. There wasn't a dry eye in the room. Alison is a wonderful woman and a true child of God. If you ever watch President Reagan's speech at the memorial, you can see Alison on the front row with her mother and brother. Truly an incident that I will always remember.

Roger_Ramjet

Sunday, October 29, 2000 - 10:57 am Click here to edit this post
May, thank you especially for sharing your experience concerning the shuttle event. We too often forget (or don't think of) how other's lives are affected as a result of the lost loved ones.

Roger_Ramjet

Sunday, October 29, 2000 - 11:30 am Click here to edit this post
1. I was in second grade when JFK was killed. The moved us all into the library to wtach the nes reports for the rest of the day. I was to young to realize the impact of what had happened, although remember all the adult's reactions and thinking this must really be a big thing.

2 John Lennon's death. I was going ot school and working full time. When I took time to watch the news reports and listen to interviews with various people, I realized once again how we treat each other....how life has little meaning to so many people. I also was frustrated with the way the media was. The way people were about placing more value on a life of someone popular as compared to the life of a hard working person that no one else knew about. I asked myself why someone wouldn't be as shocked and bothered about a person who worked their job everyday and took care of their famility with love and kindness.

I realized that John's death was very important in terms of what he had accomplished...yet felt bad for all the unknown people who suffered the same, yet no one seemed to care about those people.

3. The Challenger explosion....I was at work. My immediate reaction was that it was a tragic loss, and it was a wasted one. I hadn't been a big fan of the "space race" and all the resources that went into space programs----it seemed like we had enough troubles on terra firma to deal with first.

I also realized that risks taken to experience something wonderful and something so special must be respected to the max. Those in "non-spece program" life--teachers, garbage collectors, bank tellers, house wives/husbands...anyone like that who has the courage to push the limits....they are truly amazing people. I also realized..and felt VERY bad, that had everything gone just fine, I wouldn't have realized just how strongly I felt about the concept I just mentioned in the previous sentence. I hated the fact that it took something bad happening for me to realize a concept/feeling I had. I had learned something about myself that day, and decided I needed to look at things for their value no matter how they were going (great, ok, a tragedy)

Vykin

Monday, October 30, 2000 - 08:08 am Click here to edit this post
Well, I was on my way to post on the 3 moments in history and good thing I stopped in Hosts Message Boards. Now I see he wants 3 moments in our lives!

Briefly I'll comment on the 3 himays and roger answered to.

JKF, I was a tike and clearly remember Walter Cronkite on TV when the news broke on our black&white. I remember watching the train on its way to DC. In Canada, school children were given the day off on the day he was buried.
(In my little mind of that day, I thought he was killed by "Makaro's Store" which was a corner store along the highway not far from where we lived). I recall in my mind knowing this was a great man who died.

Challenger - I watched it on TV as it happened.
One of the saddest live events in history that I saw unfold.

Lennon: Heard the news, watched it, but thought I loved the Beatles, I preferred McCartney.

Now then 3 moments in my life: (these aren't in any particular chronological order:

The day I got married we had 600 guests attend our wedding. It was the first wedding in our newly built Cultural Center. My spouse's father knew many people at the time through his involvement in the community. I had many co-workers whom I wanted present and friends. The following day it took us 5 hours to open gifts. We received 15 slow cookers, 18 sets of cutlery,
8 drip coffee makers because they were "just out".
The guests enjoyed a 7 course meal. The total cost for food would you believe was $1500. (when weddings/funerals occur the whole community pitches in to assist with the meal prep). We also had security at our wedding, because it was traditional of my faith, at that time, the "fanatic group which broke away and was committing terrorist acts against our non-violent group, i.e. mostly burning homes down of the orthodox people in my faith." Inadvertently some extended relatives from the fanatic group had been issued an invitation to the wedding. When it was realized, the invitations had to be "retracted" for fear some damage wud be done to the Cultural Center where we were married. This did not sit well with them.
In the end the wedding went off perfectly.


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Another Moment was when in the mid90s I ran one year for Board of Directors on our Provincial School Board Association. Each candidate had to give a 2 minute speech to 600 delegates. When it was my turn in the context of my speech I was referring to children I used the following analogy: (preamble: during that time provincial the government had spend lots of money to designate many areas of our province as "Protected Areas" of land.

"If we, in this province can protected the grizzly bear, the white spotted owl and the fish -
then isn't it about time we put our money where our mouth is and STARTED PROTECTING OUR CHILDREN?"

I heard someone clap, then like a wave, 600 of my colleagues stood up and gave me a 1 minute standing ovation.
I was literally taken "aback". In the almost 100 history of the association, never had anyone received a standing ovation, other than the presidentand even then rarely. I will never forget that moment. It was during one of the most conflict filled times for school trustees and boards about amalgamations. To get such an acknowledgement, meant more than anyone will ever know to me. (unfortunately they were strict with the 2 minute rule - I lost a minute of speech time). For me the ovation was a recognition of all the hard work I had put into the association over 9 years. (By the way there were 13 other candidates for a 4 seats on the board. I didn't win. Some boards had a higher number of voting ballots and pumped the polls for certain candidates which created a split vote)

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My Third Moment:
Was the tragic loss of my pilot friend of whom I spoke earlier in the game. The post was long, so I won't repeat it here. But reality hit, that we are all immortal. Just like that, in an instant a person so full of life could be gone forever!

Roger_Ramjet

Monday, October 30, 2000 - 11:06 am Click here to edit this post
I will leave my comments for these 3 events. I was aornd for them all, and feel they represent both a good range in what happened in recent history, and also a good range for things I've experienced over te course of my life.

Obviously there are things personal to me--the birth of my kids, them going out on their own, things I've already shared that were big moments in my life that related just to me. If only I had another week!!!!