Witnessing History

I was there. I watched Sammy Sosa join the likes of Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds, Babe Ruth and Willie Mays, as he hit his 600th career home run last night. It was pretty cool and now I can say I was there at this moment in history. Though this would have to be under the category of Sports History, not the category of history that truly effects or changes the world we live in.

This made me think, have I witnessed any true historical events first hand. Our parents can easily recall where they were when Kennedy was assassinated and our generation will always be able to tell what we were doing, in detail, when we heard the news about Sept. 11. But have I truly witnessed history. I've seen Presidents Clinton and Bush (the elder) and had a picture taken with First Lady Laura Bush (and 10 other people). But these aren't actual historical events, I guess historical people.

Getting closer to witnessing history I realized we were in Israel the day that Yasser Arafat was buried. Though we weren't anywhere close to the funeral. Later we talked to some people in a restaurant that had gone to the funeral to film a documentary. Their experiences made me glad I wasn't there.

The closest I could come to actually witnessing a historical event was the terrorist attack on Amman, Jordan in November 2005. I was in the town and heard one of the explosions. Two of the three explosions were within a 2-mile radius of where I was. The next day I saw the ruins of the hotels. A few days later, I was in one of them and the baggage handler pointed out the blood on the sidewalk and holes in the wall from the shrapnel in the bomb.

So, I witnessed history, but it wasn't a major world-changing event. Obviously it changed the lives of all involved and the country, but because of the frequency of these news items in the past several years, was probably just a blip on the radar.

I'd love to hear how you've witnessed history.