Most generations honor two decades their former. For example in the 1970's the 50's were wildly popularized and the current trend is the 80's as seen in tight jeans and shutter shades. When I and others in my age group were coming up, the 1960's were preached to us as a time to show the utmost respect for.

I think as a result, people my age have always yearned to be a part of something and have always used the 60's as a measuring stick for our culture, even though none of us were there. The Sixties had it all, it had positives like JFK, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Man reaching the Moon, Sixties subculture and the spirit of protest and musical progression kicked into action by The Beatles. It also had the bad, like the assasanations of the leaders I mentioned among others, the war in Vietnam, Kent State's shootings, the protests in Daley's Chicago and much more.

The one thing that all those events shared was that they were history. Historical events fall into two categories. There is History from a book, ie. a recorded record of what has taken place regardless of it's significance and Real History which is actually Historic. What we have seen today and over the last 8 years, for better or for worse is actually Historic.

It can be argued that events of true historic proportion (for America) were not in large abundance from around the point of Nixon's Impeachment until 9/11. I understand that lots of things happened, from the fall of the Berlin Wall to Monica Lewinsky, but those items were either not directly American History or not truly historic. That's not to say nothing happened, but I remember around 1999, it just seemed like nothing had changed at all for years. Like we were on Pause, politically & culturally. This feeling lead some to believe mistakenly that there was no difference between Al Gore and George W. Bush and we all paid a heavy price for that malaise.

At that time, I always felt like something had to be coming. Growing up enriched on television and in the school system with a barrage of images from 20 years prior engrained that in me. When I was in High School, Social Studies was my favorite subject, I always remember thinking something to the effect of "What Happened?", it seemed like history just stopped about 10 years before that day.

Then came 9/11, and to our detrimate we were finally faced with real History once again. What followed were wars that cost thousands of lives at levels we hadn't seen in this country in 3 decades. Most recently we saw the markets collapse. Being in NYC and working a block from the Lehman Brothers building (now Barclay's) I saw protests outside and people leaving with boxes in front of television cameras on my way to work. You knew something had happened that would effect things, and it did. That was the biggest domino and the smallest dominos it tipped are still falling.

All the while a positive story was building in Barack Obama. That night he got elected was electric. Watching the broadcast and seeing young African-American women at college campuses and viewing parties hugging and crying as I leapt up from my seat at the announcement that he had won will never leave my mind as one of the greatest moments I've experienced. Seeing the celebration at Grant Park and finally, finally coming out on the winning side of an election left me in search of a celebration myself. I couldn't be contained in doors anymore. I dragged my wife out of the house and took part in history, driving through my neighborhood beeping my horn in joy. It was finally over, we did it.

And today right at Noon, as I arrived at work I saw dozens of co-workers in the lobby watching the big screen in paused silence. Every office I passed that had a TV in it had an inhabitant or two or three or four NOT working, just watching the TV intently. I arrived at my desk and did the same.

This is history that we should all be honored to be taking a part in, no matter how small that role is. Being a witness can never be taken for granted. Being able to pass this down to further generations can never be taken for granted.

We have finally lived up to that 60's generation. The bar that was set has been met. We have matched or surpassed them in the best of times and the worst of times, and for that we should be proud. We will survive these worsts and cherish these bests.