Remembering Where We Were When

The last week of the year for many people is usually a time for reflection. Many will take stock of their accomplishments, or lack of, and news media will remind us of the significant events of the past twelve months.

Some events are so critically important that people never forget where they were when they first heard. You know, the "Where were you when" events. I'm too young to remember Pearl Harbor, but I have living relatives and friends who remember it well.

The first significant event I remember was November 22, 1963. It was lunch time at Asbury Elementary School in Denver and all the kids were on the playground when one of my classmates, Scott Haskins, who had gone home for lunch, walked up with a great big grin on his face and said, "The president has been shot." Nobody believed him, but when the recess was over and we got back to class, we all noticed the somber look on the face of our English exchange teacher, Miss Mundy. She explained it to us with a compassion that, as I look back, I would never have expected from a foreigner. School was dismissed and we all filed out in silence.

I was at my grandparent's house watching with interest on July 11, 1969 when Neil Armstrong took "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

On March 30, 1981, I was working at Wendy's when somebody pulled up to the drive through window and said, "Have you heard that the president was shot?" I remember my heart sinking; Reagan assassinated? All our hopes gone? We had no radio in the restaurant and we were asking every driver that came by all afternoon for updates. I could hardly wait to get home to see the news.

Another significant day was December 25, 1991. We were in the Philippines when we heard on the news that night that the Soviet Union had just voted itself out of existence. The Cold War was over. I had to let it sink in for a moment, but then I said to my wife, "We won!" It was rather surreal because the evil empire went out with such a whimper that almost nobody even noticed. When I went to work the next day there was no celebration, not even any discussion about it, but until 9/11 it had to be the single most significant event of my lifetime.

Of course I'll never forget 9/11. We were here in Kenya and I was a little ways north at a place called New Wood helping another missionary put up a new church building. Around 5:30 pm we got a call on the cell phone and heard about the World Trade Center attack.

As a historian (When I graduated with a BA in history my guidance counsellor told me that now I was a historian.) I often read about events that I wish I could have witnessed. I think the desire may have been planted when I was about ten or twelve years old by a collection of books called the "We Were There" series. The books were written for a young teenage audience and I think would have made good required reading in public schools.

One year at Christmas I received We Were There at the Battle of Lexington and Concord. It told the story of Rob, a teenager who wound up riding with Paul Revere to call out the militia, and then got his baptism of fire in the fight the next day. I loved the story and relived it over and over as I read the book probably a dozen times. I would like to have been there myself in those delicate days when the fate of our nation stood in the balance.

So, with these thoughts in mind, here is a list of events that if I were given the chance I would like to have personally witnessed:

- The look on the worried faces of the mariners on the Pinta, the Nina, and the Santa Maria, whose superstitious fears of falling off the edge of the world had nearly led them to mutiny, when someone cried out "Land ho!" What celebration must have taken place, and how stately the proud Christopher Columbus must have looked knowing that their discovery would change the world.

- George Washington on the march to Ft. Duquesne on July 9, 1755, when the British regulars were ambushed by a force of French and Indians. While the red coats panicked and fled, Washington, at all times exposed to enemy fire, rallied the militia to hold their ground and saved what was left of the army. Washington's coat was riddled by musket balls and several horses were shot out from under him, but he was miraculously unhurt.

- The stirring oration in St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia on March 23, 1775 when Patrick Henry declared, "Give me liberty, or give me death."

- The Constitutional Convention in 1787, when argument had become so vehement that nothing was being accomplished. Benjamin Franklin took the floor and said, "I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth - that God Governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?" I would like to have witnessed and then joined the delegates as they all got on their knees and began to pray for God's guidance.

- When the early morning fog and smoke from the cannons cleared on September 14, 1814, and revealed to Francis Scott Key the Star Spangled Banner flying over Ft. McHenry.

- The halls of Congress when on January 26, 1830 Daniel Webster trounced the nullification argument and finished one of the greatest patriotic speeches in history with the bold declaration, "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!"

- The Alamo in 1836 to see if Travis really did draw a line in the sand.

- The dedication of the National Cemetery in Gettysburg when on November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln gave his famous address.

- The immaculately dressed and dignified Robert E. Lee offering his sword to the shabbily dressed, yet humble and gracious Ulysses S. Grant at Appomatox Courthouse on April 9, 1865.

- Custer's attack on the Indian village on the Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876, to find out exactly how events of the battle transpired.

- The light in Thomas Edison's eyes when his incandescent lightbulb shone successfully for the first time in 1879.

It becomes a little harder to select events from the twentieth century because with news reels and modern media so much of it is available to be seen, but there are many events I would like to have seen first hand:

- The Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk in 1903.

- Babe Ruth's called shot in the 1932 World Series or Mickey Mantle's monster homerun in 1956 that came within inches of being the only ball ever hit out of Yankee Stadium.

- Lou Gehrig in 1939 saying, "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth."

- Kate Smith introducing and singing a new song by Irving Berlin in 1941, God Bless America.

- The flag raising on Mt. Suribachi on Iwo Jima, February 23, 1945.

- Aboard the Enola Gay to see the reaction of the aircrew when they saw the mushroom cloud rising over Hiroshima, August 6, 1945.

- Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders in Apollo 8 orbiting the moon on Christmas Eve, 1968, and reading the first nine verses of Genesis Chapter One to the entire world before saying, "Good night."

- Ronald Reagan at the Brandenburg Gate in 1987 saying, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall."

- This past year I would like to have been able to attend the Restoring Honor rally held at the Lincoln Memorial by Glenn Beck on August 28.

I could go on ad infinitum but this is enough for now. You get the picture, and surely you can think of many events you would like to have seen yourself.

Suffice it to say that it is necessary that we remember particular events, not only in our lifetime, but in our entire history as a nation. In 1945 General Dwight Eisenhower ordered pictures and video to be taken of the Nazi death camps as they were liberated to create an indisputable record for the future because, he said, some day somebody will deny it ever happened. That is happening today frequently in spite of all the evidence.

The same can be said for America's Christian heritage. The ACLU, and many other leftist, socialist, and even muslim organizations, with the help of the current presidential administration, are trying to deny the Christian foundation of our country, and deny First Amendment rights to Christians. It is vitally necessary that we remember who we are and where we came from. We began as a Christian nation; the testimonies of the Founders, their writings and documents all attest to it. Those who say different either haven't read the Founders, or they are deliberately trying to deny the truth. When the French historian Alexis de Tocqueville visited the United States he reported that America was great because America was good, and that her goodness was found in her churches which were found in every corner of the land. It's the Christian religion, that is, faith in Jesus Christ, that made America great, nothing else.

As Ronald Reagan once said, "If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under."