Do you remember where you were/what you were doing when the following events occurred?

• The Twin Towers-9/11 disaster
• The Space Shuttle Challenger Exploded
• Hostages were taken from the Iranian Embassy
• Watergate
• The Kennedy Assassination

I could go on and on.  The point is – these were defining moments in many of our memories.  For the most part, they revolved around tragedy or something “bad” that happened in our lives – or as a “benchmark” of our collective history.  That’s how we’re wired (as human beings).  We tend to remember details surrounding a negative event more than a positive one. 

For example, let’s take a “positive” memory.  You probably don’t remember your 8^th birthday (even if it was a good one).  You don’t remember the cake, the presents you received, or who was even there, although I’m sure you had a great time.

Now compare that to your first “real” heartbreak.  You can still picture that boy or girl in your mind, down to the slightest detail.  Your memory can replay exactly when or where it went off the rails.  You can clearly remember that last conversation.  You can recall the minute you knew it was over.

This generation is going through one of those traumatic periods right now.  The pandemic is defining what we’ll remember about 2020 – and how we’ll look at the future.  The facemasks, social distancing, and business shutdowns have altered our lives.  Our kids will never forget this school year, and they’ll look back and say things like “my class didn’t have a live graduation”, or “my second year of college was online”.  Adults will have memories of “I was out of a job for months”, or maybe even the opposite, such as “I was considered “essential” – they worked us like dogs during the whole thing”.  Thirty years from now, our kids and grand-kids won’t believe the stories that are told at the kitchen table (“What do you mean, Disney World was ‘closed’ for months?  You weren’t ‘allowed” on the beach?  That’s crazy, grandpa”).

Either way, when we come out of this, it will have a long lasting impact on our psyches, our outlook on life, and our mental state.  Just like the Great Depression or World War II defined a generation, the coronavirus will do the same thing to us.  I certainly understand now why my grandparents were the way they were.  They KNEW it could all change in a heartbeat, and they never wanted to relive that nightmare again.  They appreciated the good times, the family connections, and living in the moment.

When this is all over, I hope we learn the same lessons.