"Where Were You When...?"

It overwhelms me to consider when the next "Where were you when..." event will occur. That question has haunted the tragic milestones throughout our history.

"Where were you when Kennedy was shot?" (Not even a twinkle in my Daddy's eye.)

"Where were you when Reagan was shot?" (Walking on Leslie Avenue from the Jr. High School to PE at the High School. Jimmy Mitchell was in someone's car and leaned out the window to tell us.)

"Where were you when Challenger blew up?" (I was in college - I didn't even know until a day or so later, but my dad was driving up I-75 in Florida and saw it happen.)

"Where were you on 9/11?" (Atsugi Naval Air Station, Japan, 10pm, reading a book with the TV on mute when I noticed out of the corner of my eye that the screen hadn't changed for several minutes. I phoned my mom and woke her up then we watched the 2nd plane hit together.)

"Where were you when..."
...Pearl Harbor was attacked?
...John Lennon was shot?
...Mt. St. Helen's blew?
...Oklahoma City was bombed?
...The Tsunami hit?
...Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans?

After each of these events we are left disheartened and incredulous that something this big could happen. It's why we remember the circumstances surrounding our first knowledge of it. But I don't want any more "Where were you when..." moments. I have enough now to last a lifetime.

Honestly, I don't think it's any worse now than it was in centuries past. I presume that in the years following Lincoln's assassination, people could be overheard at dinner parties all over the East, "Where were you when Lincoln was shot?"

Or...
...Chicago burned?
...the San Francisco earthquake hit?
...the Civil War started?
...Mt. Vesuvious erupted?
...the Titanic sank?
...the Great Potato famine?
...the Black Death?

Every generation has tribulation and joy. Life today isn't any more dangerous or less safe than it was before. It's just that what you see firsthand is always more devastating that what you read in history books.

What we need to remember is that humankind always prevails.