"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. " -Helen Keller

Thursday, May 05, 2011

Things I Never Thought I'd See or I Should Have More Faith

The events of this weekend got me thinking. Despite the faith I have in our military, I had begun to wonder if we would ever get Bin Laden and,not only did we find him, but we did so in spectacular fashion. This made me start thinking of all the things that have happened in my life time that I honestly never expected to see...things on both a worldwide and personal level.
  1. I never expected to see the Berlin Wall come down. - For those of you in your early twenties, unless you are a serious student of history, you may not understand why this was such a big deal. The Berlin Wall separated more than a a city. It separated families. It created a culture of haves and have nots. And, the East Germans/Soviets were willing to kill people to keep them from crossing that wall. 
  2. .I never expected to see the Soviet Union fall. - For so long, the USSR was such an ever present threat. And, they seemed bent on Empire building and strengthening their nation. It was stunning to see all the individual countries regain their freedom.
  3. I honestly never expected to see an African-American man become president. Seeing how Obama won the hearts and minds of Americans gives me hope that we can continue to conquer old prejudices and maybe one day elect a woman or an Asian-American or even an openly gay person to the presidency.
  4. I never expected to see the countries in the middle east rising up against the dictators who had oppressed them for so long and I certainly never thought a technology many think of as frivolous (Twitter) would help these rebellions succeed.
  5. After the incredibly hellish start to puberty with Marty and the active dislike for church services, I never thought I'd get to the point where he would say "Let's make sure we go to church today. I really like it and don't want to miss this week."
  6. For a long time, I thought we might not be successful in having our third child. Obviously, we beat the infertility bitch and Gabe has been with us for more than 5 years.
I never thought I'd see all these things happen. The simple fact that I have lived to see each of these events tells me that maybe I should have more faith in the power of my fellow man and more faith in my God.  Now, I know not all of you believe in God but I know that everyone has to have at least one thing that they've seen happen that they never expected to see. What have you seen happen in your own life or on the world stage that you never expected to see?

7 comments:

Jen said...

I was at the wall when it fell, I chipped off my own piece of history and still have it. We were in Berlin for a school trip and got stuck over there with all the commotion. very cool

Kakunaa said...

The Berlin wall coming down was huge in my family, seeing as my grandparents came to the States before it went up. Huge deal. That and the end of the Cold War seem still miraculous.

Even more so are the uprisings in the Middle East.

War...twice. I didn't think I would live to see not one, but 2 wars in my lifetime. I'm talking ones involving the US as there are numerous civil wars going on every day. It is disheartening...

Lynn said...

It's such a small and petty thing considering the other feats that have made the lists, but I never thought I would see my parents board a plane and fly off somewhere, but they did just that less than a month ago when they went to New Jersey to visit my brother.

Honestly, prior to 9/11, the thought of seeing a huge building of any description, let alone the World Trade Centers, topple to the ground never crossed my mind. Seeing planes flown into a building seemed like the most unlikely thing to ever happen, yet both of those things did. It's a moment I'll never be able to unsee.

Mrs. Gamgee said...

Like Jen, I have a piece of the Berlin Wall. I was there four months after the wall came down. Truly a life-altering experience.

And to be honest, I never thought that I would get married and have a family. If you would have asked me 10 years ago if I thought I would be in this place, I would have said a big fat no.

St Elsewhere said...

I am aware of those events, but was much too young to think of them.

Osama's death is one significant event that has happened that I will remember. The disintegration of USSR is also one of them.

I still think the war on terrorism is far from over, and even though the poster boy is gone, there are so many others still alive with their twisted view.

MommyToTravis said...

Nice post. I never thought I'd see a child of mine. I never thought I'd see the other side in a car accident and live to tell. I never thought I'd see a black president. I'd never thought I'd see hell. I'd never thought I'd see my father remarry a witch or remarry at all, period.
I can go on......

Once A Mother said...

I never thought I would see attacks like we saw on 9/11. Somehow, naively, I thought the world had gotten to be a more understanding, loving, and accepting place by that point in time than it actually had. The fact that someone could do something like that, kill innocent people while they were out of work over some ideology, that blew me away.

I never thought I would see the birth of another child. Now I have been blessed with two rainbows... just goes to show that we really never can say never and we should always keep the faith.