[thechat] On July 20th, 1969, humans first set foot on the Moon.

[Luther, Ron]

I can't decide if this is a 'life changing event' thread or a 'things
that I remember' thread.

I would have thought a 'life changing event' thread would have been more
personal.  I vividly remember the first show I watched on a color tv
[Flipper].  I remember the first 'solo' drive I took in the car [I was
probably about 12. My folks threw me the keys and sent me to the store
about 5 miles away to buy bread and milk.] Sex, Marriage, Childbirth,
Divorce. While these things were imporant to me {and in at least a few
cases decidedly 'life changing'} I doubt the specific dates would
interest anyone else.


While I remember a lot of world (or at least US) historical events, I
wouldn't say too many of them had a huge impact on me personally.  I
remember the deaths of Hendrix, Kennedy and Joplin, but I wouldn't say
they were 'life changing events' for me personally. I remember hearing
the news about John Lennon's death. That hurt me since I had grown up
listening to a lot of his music. I was in a bar when I heard the news.
It got very quiet. Folks drank a lot heavier.

So why do some events carry more weight than others?  Why do we forget
about some things while others become part of our emotional baggage?

I think proximity plays a part.  I grew up in Ohio.  Kent State was only
an hour drive away.  So maybe I remember May 4, 1970 more clearly
because of that.  I have friends who went to the same high school in
Akron as Judy Resnick [Challenger Explosion].  Maybe that gives the
event a heavier footprint in the marshlands of my greymatter than it
does for someone else.

I remember the Apollo moon landing, not because I saw it as such a
significant world event at the time. I was 11. Anything 'Outer Space'
was cool!  [Okay - it still is!] I don't remember the specific details
of the landing as well as I remember how I was feeling. I was sicker
than a dog. I was running a very high fever and listening to the news.
Do I remember it better because I was ill?

Memory is a tricky thing.  IIRC,   ;-)  , studies have shown that all
senses are involved in memory imprinting. That its much more than just
sight.  In fact I'm pretty sure they determined that the sense of smell
played a much stronger part in memory than anyone was expecting.  [Or
maybe not surprising if you take more of an evolutionary biological
reference point of view.]


Oh well, back to work.


RonL.
(Now where wuz I?)

;-)