Do you remember where you were …? (copy)
I made a simple request last Monday.
Since that day marked the 58th year since John F. Kennedy was assassinated, I took to Facebook and asked, 鈥淒o you remember where you were when you heard the news?鈥�
I didn鈥檛 preface that question with anything.
Just those 11 words.
There were more than 40 replies. Many contained vivid recollections of that day.
鈥淗aving lunch at home. It was on the news. It seemed like everything stopped at that moment,鈥� wrote Nancy D.
It was understandable for some people to feel like time seemed to stop. Especially for Baby Boomers, who were among the first Americans who witnessed the immediacy of an unfathomable tragedy 鈥� live and in our living rooms.
Television had helped us experience rock 鈥榥 roll, Motown, the earliest manned space flights, and all kinds of comedies and dramatic performances.
The violent death of the young, 35th president of the United States of America helped transform that box in the middle of our living rooms into the centerpieces of our homes.
Television came of age that weekend.
鈥淚 remember it like it was yesterday,鈥� wrote Susan C. 鈥淚 remember my whole family coming to town to watch the funeral at my grandmother鈥檚 house,鈥� she wrote.
Many of us who didn鈥檛 witness the initial news about the events in Dallas, heard the news at school.
鈥�6th grade English,鈥� wrote Jim N.
鈥淧laying volleyball in the third grade. I can still feel the pain in my stomach, and I was really too young to know what it all meant,鈥� wrote Rick S.
Tammy B. wrote, 鈥淚 remember all of the teachers crying as we were leaving school. And my mother crying when I got home.鈥�
When you think about it, there have only been a few events in our lifetimes that people tend to know exactly where they were when they learned about them.
I would suppose my parents and their parents may have thought the same way about the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
When Franklin D. Roosevelt stood before Congress the following day, he embedded that attack into the very fabric of this nation鈥檚 history, when he said, 鈥淵esterday, December 7th, 1941, a date which will live in infamy 鈥︹��
The assassination of President Kennedy was another of those events that are seared in our memory.
鈥淚 remember the whole class asking Mr. Robinson to postpone the biology test that day and him saying no, it shouldn鈥檛 make a difference,鈥� is what John C. wrote.
That may seem inconsequential to you. But to me, it also meant a lot.
You must understand that I, too, was in that same biology class. John C. and I were both sophomores at Uniontown High School at the time.
The circumstances of Mr. Robinson鈥檚 insistence to give that test have always been a mystery to me. (And of course, John C.)
鈥淧ark Elementary School remembers just staring at the black board trying to understand what happened,鈥� wrote Jack H., who understood the importance of the moment. But he doesn鈥檛 remember if he was in fifth or sixth grade.
I鈥檇 say that鈥檚 understandable.
The Kennedy assassination, the attack on Pearl Harbor, and only one other event seem to conjure up memories of where people were when they heard about it 鈥� 9/11.
Interestingly, the terrorist attack on September 11th, 2001, was only the second attack on the World Trade Center in New York. There had been the first attack on February 26th, 1993.
You might think that the O.J. Simpson verdict carries that 鈥渄o you know where you were when you heard the news鈥� cachet.
But it really doesn鈥檛. Because people knew it was about to happen.
Those other disturbing events pierced the calm of the nation.
There have been three failed presidential assassination attempts, two of which took place within weeks of each other, against Gerald Ford in 1975.
Those two, and John Hinkley Jr.鈥檚 attack on President Reagan failed in March of 1981.
We don鈥檛 tend to remember those dates.
Thank goodness we don鈥檛.
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight, and 40-year TV news and newspaper veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.