Moments etched in time
Last night as Barack Obama stood in front of a sea of people in Chicago as the new President Elect of the USA, millions of other people watched on the TV or internet.
This will become one of those “where were you when” moments in time.
We share a collective memory of certain events, often tragic, but sometimes like last night uplifting and energizing.
Where were you when….
JFK was shot
the space shuttle Challenger exploded
Canada beat Russia in hockey in 1972 (if you’re Canadian this was a biggy eh!)
man landed on the moon
John Lennon died
the Berlin Wall came down
9-11
or….
In these moments we share emotions and dreams, and sometimes the loss of dreams. We turn to each other for support or celebration. We come together in a common experience.
I too watched the speach by Barrack Obama and was impressed by what he had to say. My biggest “where was I when” moment though was definately 9-11. I was getting my son ready for school, argueing with him to get moving as usual, when my brother called me and told me to turn on the tv. I thought maybe he was on it for something at first and laughed and asked him what he had done, but his somber ” just put on the tv” unnerved me a bit. I went into my livingroom, turned it on and sank to my automan while my jaw dropped to the floor. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I asked my brother several times if it was real. My son came into the livingroom and asked what was wrong, I told him that there was a bad plane crash in New York, which is very far away, and that I thought it might be a good idea if he stayed home that day. To my great surprise, he insisted on going to school, but the more I heard on the news I decided it would be a day off. He started to watch with me and then began to understand, pretty surprising for an eight year old. He asked me if it was like what happened at Pearl Harbour, we had recently read a story about that event. I told him that I didn’t really know yet, we had to wait and see. I think I spent the next week waiting and watching to see what would happen next, it is definately a day I will never forget.
Comment by gillyd — November 6, 2008 @ 5:54 pm
My strongest “where were you when” moment would also have to be 9-11, with Princess Diana’s car crash/death right behind it.
Comment by Jody McA — November 7, 2008 @ 3:06 pm
Yes Princess Di was probably a big one for lots of people. Your post reminded me of when Princess Grace died in 1982. I was driving to work and it came on the radio and I remember getting to work and then sitting in the parking lot for a long time before I finally went in. It just didn’t seem real. And the photos of Prince Ranier’s face all that week were just so sad. Thanks for the memory jog.
Comment by Laurel — November 7, 2008 @ 9:25 pm
911 and Princess Di’s death are the biggies for me. Right up there though, is the moment I learned that Elizabeth Smart had been found, ALIVE, after 2 years of abduction. This was not the conclusion I could ever have imagined. I was driving at the time and had to pull over until my weepjing was done and I composed myself. I had followed this story from it’s onset, hoping and praying for a happy ending, but never dreaming that after all this time it could be so. What a miracle!
Comment by carol — November 17, 2008 @ 8:16 am