"When I Heard the News, I Was..."

Quote of the day:
“It starts cute with a shot of a box of squirming puppies and heads weepingly down the road to bathos and schmaltz.”
--Robert Laurence in today’s "San Diego Union-Tribune." He was reviewing "Candles on Bay Street," a Hallmark TV movie airing Sunday night.

Post-Thanksgiving quote of the day:
“It was your basic stoppage.”
--Jeff Hughes, a plumber quoted in today’s U-T, talking about a typical post-holiday call to unclog a kitchen sink.

Three dates to consider:
December 7
November 22
September 11

As you read those dates, you probably had no emotional response if you are under ten years old. If you responded to September 11, you are at least ten years old. If you also responded to November 22, you are at least 47. And if you responded to all three dates, you are at least 70.

The dates represent three life-changing national tragedies. Virtually every American who was alive on any or all of these dates remember exactly where they were when they heard the news: The Navy base at Pearl Harbor is under attack. President Kennedy has been shot. An airplane has crashed into the World Trade Center.

Each of these events changed the country and altered history. More than this, they left an indelible emotional imprint on every living American over the age of five or so.

Each of these events unified the nation, most obviously in the days and weeks just afterward. Even though this unity faded over time, everyone who watched the event is forever bonded in the shared memory of what happened.

While we can share stories with those who come along later, we cannot imprint them with the shared emotional memory. It is ours alone.