With the latest news of the capture of Saddam Hussein (Go United States!, Good luck, Iraq!), I am once again faced with the fact that I am living through history, AGAIN.
I remember when I was a little kid and my parents used to talk about when JFK was shot, the Six-day War, , about woodstock (not that they were there), landing on the moon, the Vietnam War, and so many others. I remember thinking to myself, "Hey, they lived through history, I wonder what that feels like."
Growing up in the 80's, there were few earth-shattering events which stood out as historical in nature- at least not to me. Yes, I will always remember where I was when I found out that the Challenger blew up (I was in carpoo on the way home from school in 4th grade), I will always remember "We are the World" and "Hands Across America", and the Berlin Wall coming down will always be etched in my mind, but it wasn't until recently that I have started feeling like I am truly living through history and honestly, I liked life better when the news was mediocre and the world wasn't changing daily.
I feel like we have been living through way too much history over the past few years. From Rabin's Assasination to "MonicaGate", to the Bush-Gore election debacle in 2000, to 911, to the War on Terrorism, to Operation Iraqi Freedom, to today's news just to name a few. We can write whole history books about each of these events alone.
I don't know about you, but I am ready to go back to the simple life. I wan't may kids to feel the way I did when I was growing up- that life is boring and nothing is going on around them. Let them read history in the books, not live through it.
Posted by peninah at December 14, 2003 10:03 AMno, i could not disagree more.
let us all feel like the world is happening to us and with us as a part of it and not like it's just something that happens on the other side of a page... to everyone else.
that could be the most detrimental, passivity-creating mindset for folks as important as kids. if we all feel safe yet separate, there will be little impetus for us to stand up and protect that safety instead of waiting for others to do it for us. they too might believe history-making is for grown-ups.
by the way... don't you just hate carpoo?
Posted by: Tobey at December 19, 2003 12:19 AMTobey- I understand what you are saying and you have a good point. I am looking at it from more of a simplistic viewpoint though.
Posted by: peninah at December 19, 2003 01:32 PM