Talk:Hands Across America
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I remember being in Bremen, IN. when I was 16 at the time of "Hands Across America." I was staying with friends and we went out to the road to hold hands with the community. I am hoping to find others in the area to share their experience. May 25, 1986 at 3:00pm - Hands Across America. It was a good time when people came together.
Contents |
[edit] I participated that day...
...I was in the Girl Scouts and our Leader got tickets for us. I was 12 years old and I still have my ticket somewhere. If I ever find it, perhaps I'll upload a scan of it here. I do know that there was a huge gap in our line. We held hands on our section of the highway, but there weren't people around us for miles. I can't remember exactly where we were, but it was somewhere in Maryland. 1986 is a long time ago! It felt really cool to be part of something like that though. It was exciting at the time despite the obvious line gap.
[edit] Been there, done that,
and I actually received a t-shirt that I still have lying around in a box somewhere. I was nine years old and I participated in this event. I just remember that my mother, father and I were all supposed to be together, but got separated for whatever reason. Looking back, it was a really cool feat of organization and especially unique becuase so many people participated. It would have been nice though if it was actually one continuous chain (maybe down the shoulder of I-80 someday?) It is kind of dissapointing that we haven't seen this type of patriotism since then. Sure, post 9-11 people were putting out flags for a while, but in my opinion, 'Hands Across America' was and still is an unprecedented unified simultaneous act of patriotism.
[edit] Noble Failure?
The linked ABC piece really illustrates a point that's missing from this article: that the event was a failure. Not just because exceptions had to be made here and there for missing people, but because of the costs involved and the shortfall vis a vis the amount the organizers intended to raise. Something should be said about the legacy of the event, which is that it's kind of looked on as a noble failure.
Also, the block quote at the beginning of the article needs citation.
PacificBoy 17:32, 15 September 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Almost forgot about it....
I mentioned Hands Across America in passing while talking with my girlfriend who immigrated here from Germany a few years ago. She hadn't heard of it. It was a little hard trying to describe it, racking my brain because I hadn't given real thought to that day in so long. But she thought it was so cool, a really great idea. Looking back on it, it was pretty cool, failure or not. I can't see that happening now. Anyway, my family and I were at battery park in New York for the event. I remember that the line of people snaked around and that people were bunched up at times, I remember thinking that if all the crowded places likE the one I was at made an effort to straighten out, maybe we COULD stretch all thE way across the country. Ha!
