Introduction
Some days are so significant they are remembered despite the fact they are not celebrated nationally, unlike Christmas or the Fourth of July. Nor are such days designated to provide secular alternatives to holidays most people celebrate such as Festivus. The days in question are those where people recall exactly what we were doing on the date the days occurred. Based on the discussion on my Facebook feed, January 6th, 2021, the date of the insurrection against the peaceful transfer of power in the federal government, constitutes one of those memorable days.
Yet, however significant the events that occurred on that particular day may be, today’s discussion focuses on what you were doing or feeling when you heard or saw the event. How did learning the news make you feel? Angry? Elated? Disheartened? All three?
All of those emotions surged through me on January 6th. And they still do three years later. But it wasn’t the first time I felt those emotions. Reflecting back on my experiences, there have been a number of times events beyond my control made me remember exactly where I was, what I was doing, and how I felt on those fateful days.
The List
December 6, 1941
Well before my birthday, but this is the date that launched the paradigm. Everyone alive then says they know exactly where they were when they heard the Japanese military had bombed Pearl Harbor. The date is not celebrated formally, but everyone recognizes it as the original Day of Infamy.
August 6, 1945
This date marks the dropping of the first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. A second bomb destroyed Nagasaki three days later, and the Japanese government surrendered several weeks after that. Neither bombing marks the official end of World War II, but their consequent impact on world events never has been more significant.
February 3, 1945
The Day the Music Died according to singer Don McLean had significant impact for a generation including many of my older friends. For me this time marked the verge of my teenage years which included listening to rock and roll on the radio. Iowa is close to my home state of Wisconsin, and I remember how cold and snowy it was that night as it was during most winters back then. The-conditions were so terrible that Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens should never have climbed into that small aircraft which they plummeted them to their deaths.
November 22, 1963
The news of Kennedy’s assassination dumbfounded me. How was it possible? Who did it? A million more questions popped into my head when the news of the shooting came over the school loudspeakers. Neither the frog I was dissecting in my introductory biology class nor not much else got done the rest of that day. Our last classes ended a few minutes early–small consolation for dealing with such an earth-shattering news.
November 15, 1969
the largest anti-war protest march in our nation’s history occurred on this date. Over a half-million protesters filled the Wasington Mall to demand an end to the Vietnam War. I and three of my college dormitory friends took turns driving across the country to participate in the march and its ceremonies. Proud, exultant, and inspired as all of us felt then, it still seems impossible that it could take six more years before the war ended and I’d get drafted in the process.
August 9, 1974
Not only was this the day President Richard Nixon resigned from office, but it also marks the day of our wedding anniversary. Living in Boston at the time, it was tempting to think all the cheering everywhere was for our nuptials. In truth, however, it expressed how grateful the people of the only state who voted for Nixon’s opponent, George McGovern, were for Nixon leaving office.
September 11, 2001
The collapse of the World Trade Center is not a day most New Yorkers are likely to forget. At the time, my wife and I lived in Minneapolis and I had surgery the previous day to repair a torn cruciate cartilege in my left knee. Confinement to the davenport forced me to witness the nightmarish repetition of the two planes crashing into the buildings and their horrifying collapse.
Conclusion
The above entries identify some of the events that changed my life during the past seventy years. You may quibble over the stature of some of the entries or point out others that I have omitted. You may even wonder as I did about the twenty-year gap between the last entry and January 6, 2021. It’s not that few significant events occurred during that time; rather, many of those peak events like the Wall Street collapse or the Crimean invasion served as precursors to the insurrection three years ago. Consequently, many of us feel an ongoing anguish in its aftermath and for our prospects in the days ahead. But what I’ve learned over that time tells me that such feelings never last. And if that assessment is not significant or memorable, little else is.
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