THINKING ABOUT IMPORTANT DATES IN HISTORY
HAD SOME TIME ON OUR HANDS TODAY, and we got to talking about what might have happened on September 10, in just any old year. Lots of things did in different years. I know this because I looked it up on the Web. There was the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., a fine man; the assassination of Robert Kennedy, one of my beloved Kennedys; and the riots at the Democratic National convention to choose a candidate to run for president against Richard Nixon. The convention was held in Chicago and Mayor Daily called out 7500 National Guard troops to quell the rioters outside the convention. (sometime my group had to be quelled inside the hall but they managed to do that without the National Guard) All those things happened on a September 10. Well, another fine thing happened, a sweet nun riding on a street car felt she heard the voice of God telling her she needed to leave the comfort of the convent and spend the rest of her life helping the poor. That nun took the name Mother Teresa later. What a fine thing to think about on a September 10.
Ray Kroc sold the first Big Mac for forty nine cents and today its still on the menu with a bit more big money involved. The first ATM machine opened in Philadelphia and 911 became a United States wide number to call for emergency help.
The first successful heart transplant was done (no one mentioned how many failed) and that has become almost simple. That is if it happens to someone else.
The term burning the bra became everyday thanks to the Women's Liberation Movement, later called Women's Lib.
All of those things happened on a September 10.
Then we talked about dates some more and I said "Let's just suppose we pick a year, any year and see what happened on September 10 that particular year." Then my mate of 60 years said "Okay, lets just randomly pick 1968." (we do fun things like this all the time)
Of course I found out the usual ----gas sold for thirty four cents a gallon; the average family income was $7,950.00; the minimum wage was $1.60 per hour; the see through blouse to be worn without a bra, made a brief appearance but women were still smart enough to reject it as a true fashion statement.
The Beatles and the Rolling Stones were the hot singing groups of the day. Even today I still prefer the Beatles over any group I have heard sing outside the Gaither Homecoming Group. Top movie of the day was The Graduate and it introduced us to Dustin Hoffman, not as good then as in Rainman, but he matured.
I found out that if we had started saving a penny a day in a penny bank, then today we would have a $146.09.
