Working titele: Finding Home

[Error: unknown template qotd]The date that stands out is, of course, sept 11th 2001. I'll always remember that date, because it was (is) also my birthday. For most of the other major events that happened during my lifetime I can remember the event, but not the date. Off the top of my head:

- The JAS crash, the first one. And the reporter swearing.
Saw this on TV when I was a small child, and it's stuck with me. Googling suggests it was in -89, so I was seven.

- The fall of the Berlin wall
Also -89, also seen on TV. I have distinct memories of seeing people sledgehammering and celebrating - but I have this feeling I may have confused the pictures from something else with the fall of the wall. I was in Berlin and saw the remnants in -98, or thereabouts, and I was stunned by how small the thing was. I imagined something like the great wall of china, but this was just a concrete fence. If it hadn't been for all the guns and mines, it wouldn't have had any effect - or so it seemed.

- The second JAS crash.
Memorable because it was the second, with the same pilot, and because it happened during a show. Googling suggests this was in 93.

- Estonia sinks.
In the winter of -94? Nope, september - but I was right about the year. It was a very big deal at home - and I remember all the headlines, and the headlines for years afterwards... Never really touched me emotionally, but no-one I knew was involved. I do recall that the following summer one of the major rags had headlines about "this is how unsafe swedish ferries are", and they were posted outside the shop on the boat to Gotland, which I thought was in bad taste.

- 9/11 2001
Memorable for three things. I turned 19, the phonecall that finally ended things between me and Steve, and the WTC attacks. It was a strange birthday.

- sept 11 2003
Murder of Anna Lindh. Again, I remember the date because it was my birthday. She didn't die until the following day, but the stabbing happened on the 11th. I have no memories of Olof Palme, or his murder (I was only 3 when it happened), so Anna Lindh is the primary attack against a politician in Sweden for me. I recall some cakings and such, but nothing really serious, apart from this. I don't think it changed things as much as it could have, though I have a feeling that was probably the final straw that broke the media - as far as sensationalist reporting of crimes and reporting the names and pictures of suspects is concerned. You'd think they'd have learned something from all the fall-out from publicly flogging the wrong guy, but no such luck.

- The tsunami, dec 26th 2004
Again, I, luckily, didn't personally know anyone involved, but Sweden was struck lame for days. And then there were all the hearings and investigations into the crisis managment capabilities of the govt etc etc. It was a huge deal. Also memorable because it led to the abolishment of the inheritance tax being retroactively implemented from dec 17th, instead of jan 1st as was the plan. (So sue me, I started studying law in jan 2005 - changes to the tax law were a big deal for us).

Time will tell, but quite possibly the future will lead to me listing:
- Nov 4th 2008 - the election of Barack Obama
As the day the US started rebuilding itself and the trust of the rest of the world. Lets hope so.