I am, much to my surprise, finally beginning to understand the attitude behind the WWII Generation mentality. You know, the "Greatest Generation" and all that.

There's a part of me, like, in general although not in specific, the rest of people my age, who wishes this Great Generation would just shut up about it.

I've finally reached a point where I'm beginning to have an inkling of why its important.

Not why WWII is important -- I mean, I understand that -- and not why it's necessarily important to them. But why its important to talk about it.

It starts with the Challenger.

No, wait, it starts with Columbia.

I was young. I was in third grade. I remember because that was the year dad was fired, and we spent a lot of time commuting between PA and NJ, because mom had a church in NJ, but we lived on a farm in PA. We were in Jersey, and Keri (my little sister) and I were watching the first space shuttle launch in the early hours of the morning. The TV was turned down way low, because we didn't want to wake anyone, and this wasn't our house, so we were trying to be polite.

It was fire and light and smoke, reaching towards heaven. The somber, restrained countdown, as if this wasn't an important event, the main engines firing, the shuttle lifting, lifting, turning, racing forward out of sight.

The news played that image, over and over, again and again. Keri and I watched, enthralled, unmoving, experiencing. And I knew, knew in my heart, that this changed everything.

Flash-forward to 8th grade english. The loudspeaker blares to life, crackling through the school. "We will have a minute of silence for the crew of the Challenger, which has just been lost." We sit, stunned, knowing a teacher was on board, and that for schools this was a BIG THING. It is the day after my birthday, which doesn't mean much except that my birthday is on the same anniversary as the Mercury launchpad fireball that killed three astronauts, years and years earlier. That summer, during the NASA haitus, when there are no flights, I attend US Space Academy and we were priviliged to see the actual NASA inquiry tapes of the Challenger disaster. Over and over, in slow motion, with explanations, close-ups, we learned exactly how and why this happened, and why they could prevent it ever happening again.

When Challenger blew up, everyone told me, "You'll remember this for the rest of your life. It will mark your generation in a way you haven't been marked yet."

Now, I think about the fact that September 11, 2001, was seven months ago, that we are closer to the one year anniversary of the event than the event itself. And I start to see how this shapes everything. This goes beyond the stupid rhetoric using the same phrase at the time. This is life-stamping, down to the genes, and no one who comes after will ever possibly be like the ones before.