Things I Remember

Growing older, a lot of the day to day happenings in life get lost by the wayside. There are a few things that stick forever, it seems.

This is a short list, but one that reminds me just how far humanity has come, and yet, in some cases, how far we have to go.

1. Today, 50 years ago, the Beatles recorded their first record album! I clearly remember their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show ( A really good shew). I also remember how my Mom and her friends clucked at the "Noise". However, they did change the music industry forever.

2.Also on the Ed Sullivan Show there was a young man called Elvis. He managed to change music and music appreciation. My Mom and her friends also clucked at the gyrating hips.

3. The Cuban Missile Crisis had everybody planning for annihilation.In 1962 the world was as close to the edge as was possible without falling off. Students in schools did not expect to be around to graduate. People flocked to churches to pray for a resolution. People built back yard bomb shelters.

"Nuclear catastrophe was hanging by a thread ... and we weren't counting days or hours, but minutes."

-Soviet General and Army Chief of Operations, Anatoly Gribkov

4. November 22, 1963, I was lying on my bed in the residence, waiting to go to English class when the word came through that John Fitzgerald Kennedy had been assassinated. All the students congregated in the cafeteria, the gym, and the hallways. Classes were cancelled. Girls and a few guys were weeping. This was the death of a man that had the cojones to stand up and say "no" to nuclear proliferation in the Americas. He knew what he was doing, and what the consequences could be, but stood firm and deescalated the situation.

"Ask not what your country can do for you," he said. "Ask what you can do for your country." Quite a change from the mindset of today!


5. Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) was an American astronaut and the first person to walk on the Moon. This was done on July 1969. What struck me here was the fact that my Dad was born in the year (1903) that Wilbur and Orville  Wright first flew a heavier than air craft at Kitty hawk. 66 years later, a man was on the moon!

Again JFK set the stage, and a target.
President John F. Kennedy delivered this speech, "Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs," on May 25, 1961 before a joint session of Congress. In this speech, JFK stated that the United States should set as a goal the "landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth" by the end of the decade.

He got it done!

6. Less we offend! One of the worst pieces of legislation ever to come out (in my opinion) was The Charter of Rights and Freedoms . It's intent was to give equality to all peoples of Canada. In fact, it took God out of the classroom, thereby causing the majority to give way to the minority. All religions in Canada are recognized in their own right, but this prohibited Christians (the Majority) from teaching God's code of behavior as has been done since before the founding of our nation. It also legalized practices forbidden in the Bible, and thus against God's commands, Abortion, homosexuality, and a few others were legitimized. It has gone to the extreme where one individual protesting can cause instruction in a religious school to be stopped

7.I started into computers with a Radio shack Colour Computer 2 about 1980. This had a whopping memory (ram) of 16k and used a tape recorder as a data storage device.In a year or to, I updated to a 5 inch floppy disc.It had an LPT-1 printer that printed out one line of text at a time. Slow? Yes! I was able to use it to convert a company that used mainframe computers (IBM) to a graphical financial set of record keeping. To do this, i had to learn basic programming language. I progressed up the line to my present HP Pavillion (now 7 years old) with its 500 megabyte storage, DVD drive and colour printer. This has all happened in 33 years. You don't service a car, or almost anything without a "card reader". Where will this be in another 33 years. There is one major downfall, and that is its vulnerability to EMF, say from a dirty bomb air burst. I well remember that COCO2 , though.

8.I don't remember where I was when the word came through that the World Trade Center had been attacked, but I do remember sitting in front of the TV watching as the details unfolded. My thoughts at the time went something like this "those people are crazy" and "this is going to change how we perceive the world", and, "Wow, what can we do to halt this". I also remember some folks (non-caucasion) cheering in a gas bar as the news came up on their screen. They have since moved on. This was the start of major paranoia in the Americas.

9. I watched as the war in Iraq started, wondering how they found out so fast about the source of the terrorists. I also watched as the U.S. Britain and others jumped on board the story of weapons on mass destruction. I wonder to this day where the weapons are. As far as I know none were found. I also remember how it says in the Word of God that in the end times, many will be deceived!

10.The Christian Church continues to amaze me in its longevity. For 2000+ years, God's Word, The Holy Bible, has remained true and unchanging in intent. There are many interpretations of the Bible and also many divisions in the Church. These divisions, in my opinion, are caused by men attempting to interpret the Bible to suit their own beliefs. Different practices have come in and different interpretations. However, over the course of history, the gist has remained true. I was once challenged that it was made up by man (true, but under divine guidance by the Holy Spirit). I was challenged that the author /historian Josephus disproved the Bible. After a tough read, I found the opposite to be true, that the entire book of Isaiah was present in the early first century, and when compared to today's version, very little was changed. 

These are the things that I remember and that stick in my mind.

How about you? What is memorable in your opinion?