The World on the Edge of Forever

The world was about to end.  We understood on that at some level, that afternoon in October of 1962 when we walked home from school.  We said goodbye to each other, that afternoon, saying "See you tomorrow - if there is a tomorrow."

We didn't know why we were saying that.

We didn't know what the world ending meant.

We didn't know that our world was teetering on the edge of forever. Thankfully, that knowledge was left to our parents, and the other adults of our world.  You know, those adults who were supposed to keep us children safe.

We didn't know that our President, that handsome President Kennedy, had appeared on TV on Monday, October 22, 1962.  Headlines in newspapers warned that the speech would be of the highest national urgency.

Our young President, in office for less than two years, told the American people that the Soviets had set up nuclear missiles on the island of Cuba, less than 100 miles from the Florida Keys.

For the next week, the world held its collective breath while the two nuclear superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, manuvered, finally realizing they had to back off from the brink. They found a way.

Some historians consider October, 1962, the most dangerous month in the history of the world.

My spouse has memories of walking home from school, to eat lunch (this was common back then), and hearing sirens go off.  He and his friends, in a panic, ran towards their homes as fast as they could.

I don't know if my fellow bloggers, some  of which barely remember the Soviet Union, can imagine what those days in October were like.

50 years ago, the world was a very different place.  We should never forget that, for the Cuban Missile Crisis has lessons to teach us today.

Nostalgia sometimes isn't pleasant. 

Sometimes, you don't want to remember.