Remembrance

Today is January 27, and for millions of people across the world, it's a solemn day of remembrance.

On this date in 1945, Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated. The largest of the death camps, and one of the worst pits of evil in the Holocaust (or Shoah, as it's known in Hebrew), Auschwitz has become synonymous with man's inhumanity to man.  Because this was the date of liberation, the UN designated January 27 International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Genocides didn't stop when World War II ended. I think it's fair to say the lessons remain to be learned.

For more of us, today stands as a day of shock and sadness, and you're about to feel old. On January 27, 1986, Space Shuttle Challenger exploded in the cold, crystal clear Florida sky over Cape Canaveral. The crew perished, including Christa McAuliffe, who was to be the first teacher in space.

Here in the Boston area, the shock was magnified, as Christa was a local. She was born in Boston, earned her Bachelor's degree from Framingham State College, and taught in Concord, New Hampshire. She belonged to the nation, but she was as local as Doug Flutie, Rich Gedman and Mike Dukakis. Today, the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center teaches New Hampshire children about the wonders of space, science and exploration.

President Ronald Reagan's short speech to the nation after the Challenger tragedy was pitch-perfect. The last paragraph of his address still resonates.

"The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God."

The Challenger explosion took place 25 years ago today.

I feel old.

Photo credits, IHRD banner, US Holocaust Museum. Challenger crew, Aerospaceguide.net