Yesterday morning while enjoying the cozy, comfortable atmosphere at Java- a favorite downtown Coeur d Alene hangout with local artwork and community billboards posted on the walls, my friend Liz and I slowly drank cappuccino's and discussed the latest theme of her current blog for Writing North Idaho, A Watershed Moment
What prompted my friend's analysis was Stephen King's current best selling novel, 11/22/63 about time travel, and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and the impact such events have on our national psyche.
On her blog post Liz presents a well thought out list of historical watershed moments - both good and bad - including the birth of Jesus Christ and the Bolshevik revolution that made a huge difference , and greatly changed the way people viewed, and responded to their environment.
I then began thinking more personally about the individual watershed moments that effect our lives - the difficult, and challenging like divorce , death of ones we love, an auto accident that kills two and critically injures three, and how our lives are interrupted and abruptly switched to another path without our consent or desire. How it becomes up to us, with the grace of God to adapt, accept, learn and grow. To forgive, overcome, make better. And if we can, to retain a tiny spark of innocence, and hope.
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This is a very thoughtful piece. I agree that the advent of television may have made far away events seem immediate. I am sure that the other historical milestones you mentioned changed lives just as much. While the list of watershed events was not mine, I felt it was an interesting grouping. I doubt I would have thought of same events; perhaps no two people would. Whether national or personal, how apt it is to point out that forgiveness is still the great challenge.
ReplyDeleteOh how the decisions we and others made yesterday effect today. I love what you have put on paper, this is something I have thought about . You are a very thoughtful person. Thank you for sharing your feelings.
ReplyDeletejm
Someone once said "remembering is always about some degree of forgetting". In reading your piece I wonder if the reverse also applies? Very thought provoking Kath.
ReplyDeleteKath, I've often relived the Kennedy assasination. I remember what I was wearing that day. I was in seventh grade. The way it was announced was over the loud speakers. The image is of me, in a green skirt and pinstriped blouse. A great sadness was around and a feeling of being overwhelmed. I still feel the tears of that moment. Love, Trudy
DeleteKathy,
ReplyDeleteYou and I were in the same classroom the moment we found out that JFK had been shot. I can still remember where Sister M. Agenesine was standing. I remember the tears in her eyes as she announced it.
At 13 I was too immature to realize what it's full impact was, as I was the year before during the Cuban missile crisis.
But I was an emotional wreck for about a month after 9/11. I couldn't concentrate on my work. The secretary of the govt. organization at Edwards AFB that I worked for told me she felt the same way. We wondered if more people were as affected as we were. She sent an email to everyone in our organization, asking if they felt as she did. There were about 15-20 people who replied in the affirmative. So she arranged for a psychologist to come and talk with us as a group. He assured us that our reaction was normal, and told us that if our feelings did not last much more than a month that we were dealing with this crisis as well as could be expected.
I think that the catharsis for most Americans was the tremendous surge of patriotism. For me, more than the JFK assination, 9/11 was the moment that the world changed forever.
Thank you, Paul for your thoughtful comment. I also remember Sister M.Agnesine telling our class the sad news about President Kennedy. You also refer to 9/11. Like you, and for many of us that day is day we'll always remember - where we were and what we were doing when first hearing the shocking news; A watershed moment that caused monumental upheaval & stress, changing the United States, & our world on many levels.
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