“I Give the World Until 1965, max.”

File under the optimism of children.

I was perhaps 7-8 years of age sometime after the Soviet Union put up Sputnik, the very first artificial orbiting satellite and scared the bejeezus out of the United States.

We all looked up into our night sky, uncomfortably aware for the very first time that there was a human-made artifact, an artifact produced by an enemy state orbiting far over our heads.

Americans, once secure and surrounded by vast oceans, began to feel very vulnerable and really began to worry.

I distinctly recall announcing to my elementary school friends, quite matter of factually, that ” I give us until 1965, maximum.”

This first precious prognostication pronouncement of mine , I am glad to say, did not come true….

From: Making Every Life A Living Legacy