Our lives seem to revolve around dates. We remember our birth date, our partner’s birth date, and hopefully our wedding date. If we have kids we are supposed to remember those dates. Some try to remember parents and siblings birthdays. Today those dates are plugged into our digital devices so we don’t actually have to use our brains. The devices can even be set up to warn us days in advance.

However, there are many dates we remember that seem to be almost mandatory for most of us. Three holidays we easily remember are January 1, July 4, and December 25. Others are not so happy dates like 9/11-Twin Towers, and December 7. Sometimes it is only the year that is special like 1945 for the end of World War II or 1963 when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

As a history buff, my mind was filled with dates for events in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. As a military history student, my dates went back to long forgotten wars thousands of years ago. There does seem to be a correlation between age and memory. As one gets older more and more unnecessary dates are forgotten.

If a person did not live through an event, how many of us would remember the date it occurred? Millions of Americans were yet to be born when 9/11 occurred so how long will that date mean something to them? Many of our holidays today mean little more than a parade, party time, or no-work-day. For millions, Memorial Day is the Indy 500 Race. Many important days are already forgotten by most of us – how sad!