proof of age - I know its off topic but...

[Alice Faber]

>"Steve K." wrote:
>>
>> On Fri, 4 Feb 2000, Kathleen Miller wrote:
>>
>> > The Challenger, on the other hand, I sat watching with my sophomore
>>History
>> > class, but I would not compare the death of seven strangers to a beloved
>> > president. Damn shame, yes, personal loss, no.
>>
>> I agree with you on that -- my point was that for those of us who aren't
>> old enough to remember (or weren't alive during) the assassination or
>> death of a president in office, as with JFK and FDR, the Challenger is the
>> closest thing that approximates it, in terms of a segment of the
>> population recalling a shared sense of grief.
>>
>> That is, I can't know what it was like when JFK died, but I am aware of
>> the response to the Challenger, and it's the only thing I can think of
>> that comes close to a nation grieving as a unit within my lifetime.
>>
>> --- Steve K.
>
>How about when Reagan was shot?

I was in 6th grade when JFK was assassinated and in high school when RFK
and Martin Luther King were assassinated. I was teaching at the University
of Florida when Reagan was shot and when the Challenger exploded. The
Challenger explosion is, to me, much closer to the JFK assassination in
terms of providing a shared reference point for contemporaries. This may be
because Reagan survived. Be that as it may. I don't have any specific
recollections of hearing about the attempt on Reagan's life except that a
few days later a colleague was circulating a gun control petition. However,
I can tell stories about how I heard about the Challenger explosion (which
may or may not reflect accurate recollection; but that's another story).

Alice Faber