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You, me, we all have tales of disasters we’ve survived. Be it personal, family, across your country or even worldwide – we suffer through and keep going. Here’s a list of disasters I remember from my childhood until now – 2025. I watched them happen on television and read about them in newspapers, magazines, and ultimately on the Internet. These are not in chronological order. Writing this post made me realize that whatever our nation is currently going through – this too shall pass.

Feel free to add your disasters to the list.

COVID 19 Pandemic. Worldwide, 229 countries and territories reported 705,753,890 confirmed cases and 7,010,681 COVID 19 related deaths. In the United States, we had 104,538,730 confirmed cases and 1,130,662 deaths. Everyone in my immediate family was vaccinated. Ultimately, we all got mild cases of COVID 19 but no one was hospitalized or died.

Bloody Sunday – Domestic Terrorism. Even as a child, I was keenly aware of the awful, unfair, mean-spirited ways Black people were treated. Again, television brought their circumstances into our living rooms. We watched state troopers beat and tear-gas 600 unarmed Black Americans as they marched across the infamous Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. We saw photos of white Minister James Reed murdered by anti-civil rights gang. We saw photos of four Ku Klux Klan members arrested for planting 16 sticks of dynamite in the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. These men blew up four young black girls – Addie Mae Collins (14), Cynthia Wesley (14), Carole Robertson (14), and Carol Denise McNair (11.) WHY? My Methodist Sunday School taught us “Jesus loves all the little children, all the children of the world, red and yellow, black and white, all are precious in his sight.” Since Bloody Sunday, desegregation has changed Black lives in many positive ways, but the struggle for equality and color blindness continues.
Cuba Revolution. Cubans, hoping for real democracy, believed Castro’s lies. They found out quickly that he was just another dictator. Dictators like Castro fear educated citizens. He let thousands of educated, wealthy people leave Cuba – journalists, doctors, professors, attorneys, scientists, business and property owners, government workers, and others. Many came to the United States. All came with nothing. Living in Miami, we came to love Cuban coffee, Cuban food, and Cubans’ love for their family and neighbors.
Russian missiles in Cuba – Russia secretly installed nuclear-capable SS-4 and SS-5 surface-to-surface missiles in Cuba just 90 miles from our home in Miami. We learned how to crawl under our school desks for “protection” from nuclear bombs. The crisis highlighted the dangers of nuclear proliferation and the need for communication between superpower and led to the signing of the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty in 1963.
Wacko 4th grade teacher. Miss Simpson never let our class go outside for recess. Instead, she showed her class of 9 and 10 year old kids films of naked dancing Africans. Last day of school, she lined all the boys up facing the blackboard and threw books at them. She was gone the next school year. The sad thing is that I told my parents the crazy things she did but they never took any action. Maybe they didn’t believe me. That’s when I realized I was on my own to take care of myself.
President Kennedy assassinated. For endless days on television, we watched our young President’s head explode and our sophisticated First Lady climb onto the back of the convertible for help. We watched her hold his bleeding head as the car sped to the hospital. We watched Vice President Johnson take the Oath of Office on Air Force One. Jackie Kennedy stood by him still wearing that bloody pink Chanel suit – her husband dead for just a few hours. Two days later, live on television, we watched Jack Ruby shoot and kill Lee Harvey Oswald, the President’s assassin. That was the first known human killing seen this way. Then came the President’s funeral, the conspiracy theories, blame, and investigations. Our nation dived into the five stages of grief all at once. We collectively suffered paralyzing sadness and depression. Denial, blame, and conspiracy theories driven by our feelings of “how could this have happened?” Then anger swept across the country in the form of protests. We protested against the draft and the war. We protested for women’s rights and university students’ rights. We burned flags, books, and bras. We took drugs to dull the pain. I still cry when I think about his death.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy were also assassinated. More heartbreaking sadness and loss of hope in our nation.
The ugly Vietnam War 1955-1975 was on television and in the newspapers every day. This was not a war of honor. Americans questioned the reason for this war. We also questioned the draft that took so many young, poor, black, and brown citizens to fight a war with no clear objective. War veterans were treated poorly by Americans and weren’t welcomed back as war heros. Many soldiers were exposed to the cancer-causing Agent Orange bombs used to defoliate the jungle and crops. Others came home with PTSD and addicted to drugs.
Vietnam War deaths: 58,220 US forces died and 303,000 were injured; 62,000 Laotians; 310,000 Cambodians; an estimated 3 MILLION Vietnamese forces and civilians died during this useless war.
The Army Draft required 18-year old boys to register for the Draft. They were drafted during the annual “lottery.” Most were sent to fight in Vietnam – unless your dad was an elected official, you were a college student, or had bone spurs. An estimated 50,000 to 125,000 men went to Canada to escape the Draft.
Anti-war protests across our nation. Protesters burned American flags, copies of the US Constitution, and effigies. Police used batons, water cannons and tear gas on the protestors – even though the 1st Amendment to the Constitution allows peaceful protest. Peaceful protest remains our American right and duty.
The Kent State Massacre – Ohio National Guards shot and killed four unarmed students and injured nine during a Vietnam war protest on the Kent State campus.
The end of the Vietnam War. The US doesn’t end wars very well – https://youtu.be/G1xuTJqZ20M?si=Z_kUl0HRBOvh0y0X – as seen in this CBS News Report – “1975 Flashback: Evacuation of Saigon.” This reminds me of the horrible end-of-war evacuation in Afghanistan – proof that history repeats itself.
The Mexico City Olympics Massacre. 200 students were killed and more than 1,000 injured ten days before the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. The Mexican army surrounded students protesting the government for using funds for the Olympics instead of for much-needed social programs.
The Munich Olympics Massacre. 11 Israeli athletes were murdered and a West German police officer killed during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany. Eight Palestinians invaded the Olympic Village and took the Israelis hostage. The next day, a rescue attempt failed terribly causing the death of the Israeli athletes and police officers.
President Nixon was involved in and covered up serious crimes at the Democratic National Committee Headquarters in the Washington, DC Watergate building. Nixon resigned. Vice President, Gerald Ford, became President. He pardoned Nixon. The nation was relieved and ready to move on.
The Cold War. We lived in fear that the USSR (Russia) was ready, willing and able to send nuclear missiles to the United States.
“Monogamy” is not a wood. “Wish you were here. I love you too,” is what I heard my then-husband say quietly into his phone. With help from a Mental Health professional, I went through a self-healing process and then divorced this man who thought the word “monogamy” was a wood.
911. I worked at a small American Red Cross Chapter when 911 happened. The needs of so many people – victims, survivors and their families, and thousands of emergency responders – were overwhelming. Americans and the world responded with an avalanche of donations – blood, money, socks, volunteers, and love. Red Cross responded quickly in ways never done before.
Afghanistan War. 2001 – 2021. The goal our 20-year war was based – at least publicly – to drive out the evil Taliban. However, to the victor goes the spoils. Afghanistan is rich with a wide array of minerals, including copper, iron ore, rare earth elements, and lithium. The country is also known for gemstones like lapis lazuli, as well as resources like coal, oil, natural gas, and various building materials. Nicknamed “The Graveyard of Empires,” not even Alexander the Great conquered Afghanistan’s imitating mountains and fierce fighting people. The US spent $2.3 TRILLION. 2,442 US Troops died. 46,000 Afghan civilians died. 1,144 Allied Troops died. 444 Humanitarian Aid workers were killed. 72 Journalists were lost. The Taliban is still there.
Iraq War. 2003 – 2011. The misleading reason President George W Bush gave for invading Iraq was to find WMD’s (Weapons of Mass Destruction). WMD’s were NEVER found. Again, to the victor goes the spoils. Maybe Bush saw an opportunity to take over Iraq’s oil fields. US Soldiers: 4,492 killed; 32,292 wounded. Iraqi forces and police: 48,719 killed. Coalition forces: 4,892 killed. More than 100,000 Iraq civilians were killed. The US spent $1.6 TRILLION to not find any weapons of mass destruction.
Hurricane Katrina. I was deployed by the Red Cross to Jackson, Mississippi, along with hundreds of other Red Cross professionals and volunteers. More than 50,000 hurricane victims – most from New Orleans – were housed at the State Fairgrounds in Jackson where they received financial and physical aid. This was also the location for rescued animals – horses, farm animals, cats and dogs. Nothing felt better than witnessing animals and their humans reunited!
The Indian Ocean Tsunami, December 26, 2004, approximately 230,000 people across 15 countries died. The small Red Cross chapter where I worked received $1,000,000 in donations for this tragedy. Nationally, Red Cross received $580 million in donations – proving once again that Americans are caring and generous.
Hurricane Andrew, a category five storm, killed 65 people, left more than 250,000 homeless in South Florida and caused $26 billion in damages. My sister’s house in Homestead was mostly destroyed. She and her four little ones moved in with us until Red Cross secured an apartment, furniture, clothes and food for them. They ultimately rebuilt their home and moved back to Homestead.
The Iranian Revolution drastically changed the lives of Iranian women – and quashed any hope for democracy in that country. It also marked the end of more than thirty years of alliance with Washington, profoundly affecting US policy in the region.
Gasoline shortage caused by the Iranian Revolution. Gas costs quadrupled. Big, gas-guzzling American cars lost value which resulted in the popularity of small, economy cars.
Iran Hostage Crisis. Iranian militants seized the US Embassy in Tehran and held 52 American diplomats and citizens hostage for 444 days. A rescue mission failed due to a sand storm and mechanical problems. The hostages were released on January 20, 1981, just after the inauguration of President Reagan.
Jonestown mass suicides. American religious cult leader Jim Jones, moved his People’s Temple from California to the Guyana jungle. On November 18, 1978, his 900 followers, including 300 under age 17, died in a single day after he ordered them to drink poisoned “kool-aid.” Earlier that same day, California Congressman Leo Ryan and his staff, photographers and journalists had visited Jim Jones at the compound. After the meeting, Ryan and his group were loading into their airplane when they were attacked by Jone’s militia. Ryan and four others were shot to death and several were severely injured.
Space shuttle explosions. January 28, 1986, my 9-year old daughter’s elementary school went outside to watch the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger. 73-seconds later, they saw the shuttle explode. All seven crew members died including teacher Christa McAuliffe. February 1, 2003, we saw the Space Shuttle Columbia explode as it re-entered the atmosphere. All seven astronauts were lost.
Mass Shootings. August 1, 1966 – University of Texas. Charles Joseph Whitman, a former U.S. Marine, kills 16 and wounds 30 shooting from a university tower. Two police officers shot and killed Whitman in the tower. Whitman had also killed his mother and wife earlier in the day. NOTE: This is the first mass shooting I remember knowing about. Ten years later, I discovered that I lived across the street from this killer’s father. Unfortunately there’s too many mass shootings to list here so I’ve added a link: US Mass Killings from 1940s to now