Depending on who you are, December 7 could pass by like nothing in the hustle and bustle of the season. There are a few generations who’ll ever let the calendar flip on this day without a shudder from the memories. Between the clueless and the acutely aware, lives a whole lot of life.
That same night in 1941, Hitler delivered his Night and Fog decree. This essentially lead to the arrest and execution of anyone considered to be “persons endangering German security.”
154 years before that, Delaware became the first state to ratify the Constitution.
During the 1962 Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia, PA, instant replay was utilized for the first time.
On this date in 1972, the last flight of the entire Apollo program, Apollo 17, launched for the moon.
The first execution by lethal injection occurred in 1982 in, you could probably guess, Texas.
Larry Bird, Sara Bareilles, Gabby Thomas, Ellen Burstyn, Tom Waits, Jeffrey Wright, Giovanni Bernini, and Noam Chomsky all share birthdays today.
That’s a very very long and convoluted way of saying, if something seems huge, take your eyes off that for a moment and look around. You’re likely going to find worlds more happening. Each of those happenings in the shadow of the immense can be troves of inspiration. Yes, on their own, and also new inspiration in their adjacency to the epic. There are diamonds waiting to be mined in the sedimented folds and layers of time surrounding monumental events. Get your tools and go after them.
Sparks 