Moments that define a generation

From the outbreak of World War II, the assassination of President Kennedy, the fall of the Berlin Wall, to the 9/11 attacks, every generation has some momentous event which stays with us and more often than not changes the world or the way we look at it.

I just thought i would create this thread for people to share their experiences of significant events or moments which they remember and which for them defined their generation.

For me personally, the one i remember most is 9/11. I had gone round to my friend's house, as i came through the day i saw the tv and one of the towers burning. I watched in disbelief as the second plane slammed into the South Tower.
I was only around 13 but i recall thinking that it might have been the Russians, which was ridiculous and just goes to show how much i knew about world politics and the like.

Afterwards when it became apparent that it was a terrorist attack, it seemed strange to me. Strange in the sense that to me, terrorists were something in a Tom Clancy computer game or an Arnold Schwarzenegger film. On that particular day my school was shut for teacher training. The next day at school everybody was talking about it. I remember a conversation in which my class agreed that basically every single country in the world from Brazil to Switzerland would join forces and stand with the U.S.A and defeat whoever was responsible. Little did we know it wasn't that simple....

Following on from 9/11 there is also the invasion of Afghanistan and the Iraq War. Although relatively recent, it is no understatement to say they have had a major impact. I recall watching with my Dad as Tony Blair addressed the country saying UK armed forces were being sent to Afghanistan and i can remember the invasion of Iraq. I had the tv on in the morning and i remember watching the footage of a U.S ship fire cruise missiles.

Another event which i can vaguely remember is the death of Princess Diana. I was around 8 years old, but i can remember it and i also remember her funeral and the massive outpouring of grief by the public. Although i was only young i was well aware of who Diana was.

In years to come i am sure i will include Michael Jackson in that list. I have a knack for remembering when certain famous people died. For some strange reason i can recall when Marlon Brando died and even Frank Sinatra even though i was only 9 years old and i wasn't even into Frank Sinatra.

Anyway what events or moments do other people remember?

9-11 is the event that has effected me I am not old enough for the fall of the Berlin Wall to have had an impact on me . The 21st Century began for real on 9-11 as the world did from its post Cold War pondering .

Cheers xpert11 .

The death of JFK in third grade definitely marked my generation, as well as Martin Luther King and Civil Rights. I started school the first year of integration and have lived to see the first black president.
I believe the Beatles rocking the world was a massive event of my time. Changing the way music and long hairs was looked upon. Woodstock was one of the foremost events of my generation. It was a nonviolent demonstration against the war in Viet Nam otherwise known as the "Viet Nam Conflict" with Ten Years After singing "I'd Love to Change the World", Richie Havens with "Freedom", Country Joe and the Fish, "VietNam Song". The Murrah Building bombing (since I live in Oklahoma)and lost a cousin in that bomb defines my generation as we had grown up since Beatlemania and Woodstock and were faced with the fact that terrorists existed in our front yard. Abortion, the loss of prayer in public school and the War of Iraq have been part of my generation.

The fabric of society getting moth eaten has been a reflection of my generation. I hate that because it was the end of the innocence.


[edit on 8-11-2009 by catamaran]

For my generation, the terrorist kidnappings in the 80's first reflected how "real" terrorism was.

It seemed to kind of go away in the press until 9/11. That is definitely a defining moment, as are the wars that followed.

The fall of the Berlin Wall was a big one for me, and the coup in Russia (which pretty much ended my attempted espionage career....) (well that, and Russian class was really difficult when everybody else was Slavic and taking it for refresher...)

My ancestry is from Wales, so yeah, I took Diana's death pretty bad too...

I believe a generation of Canadians were impacted by the December 6, 1989 killing of 14 female engineering students attending the École Polytechnique in Montreal.

The killer claimed to have done this in his attempt to "fight feminism".

This event brought to the forefront many different social issues ranging from anti-feminism to societal alienation. It even resulted in amendments to gun laws. Twenty years later the anniversary is still prominently commemorated on a nation-wide basis. This is a testament to the impact that it had on the psyche of all Canadians.