Everyone who was alive then can remember where he was when he heard that President Kennedy had been shot. Another generation might even remember hearing that Pearl Harbor had been bombed. It seems that nearly every generation has experienced some major historical tragedy take place during its time. My generation is no different.
I remember when we, the United States, went to war in 1991 under the leadership of George Bush. Now I see the second President Bush leading America headstrong back to Iraq to finish what should have been done the first time we were there. More recently I have lived through some of our nation’s most trying experiences. I know exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard that the Pentagon and the World Trade Center had been attacked.
Now we face yet another tragic event to “Remember.” I was at work Saturday morning when someone said the space shuttle Columbia had exploded. At first I shrugged it off because I thought they were joking. However, when someone else said it I was extremely curious about what had happened. Later I heard it on the radio. Then I heard that coincidentally it was just four days after the seventeenth anniversary of the Challenger explosion.
Without a doubt, this will be yet another dark page in America’s eventful history. The United States is probably the youngest of the world’s industrialized nations and, most assuredly, the youngest of the superpowers. Nonetheless, those who proudly claim the title of an American have many events to passionately “Remember.”
Compared to the other nations of the world, the United States is a baby, yet we have been at the forefront of the pack of global leaders for most of our short lifespan. We have seen good times come and go and the bad times as well. We have, along with the times, seen great leaders born. These leaders have the pain and the pleasure of running the greatest nation in the world. They are the American presidents.
Although Presidents' Day is in February to commemorate Washington's and Lincoln's birthdays, it also is a day to remember all of our great leaders. These two specific presidents are of great significance. One, George Washington, represents the birth of a new nation, united together and self governing. The other, Abraham Lincoln, represents the rebirth of that nation, reunited as one, following senseless bloodshed.
But these are not the only leaders this country has ever looked up to. The Roosevelts, Kennedy, Eisenhower, and even the Bushs could all be and are revered as some of America's finest. They have brought us through the thick and the thin, and they will be the examples for those who will lead us into the future.