There's a post going around of ABC News anchor Frank Reynolds saying, "May the

shadow of the moon fall on a world at peace." He ended his report on the solar eclipse with this

statement on 26 February 1979. A few days prior, extremists in Kabul had kidnapped the U.S.

ambassador to Afghanistan, who died later that day during a shootout between his captors and

security forces. The month before, a young woman had walked into an elementary school in San

Diego, killing two staffers and injuring eight children and a police officer. The previous year,

1978, had seen the mass murder/suicide of Jonestown, the assassinations of George Moscone and

Harvey Milk and the first Unabomber attack. The country was still shaken from the Vietnam

War, which had ended four years before the eclipse. The Cold War Still raged on.

But there was still hope. The month before the eclipse, the Music for UNICEF Concert

was held to support world hunger programs. Diplomatic relations were established between

China and the United States. 1978 saw the Take Back the Night march protesting sexual abuse

and violence and the rainbow flag being flown for the first time. Resistance was being

recognized. In 78, President Carter allowed the Susan B. Anthony dollar to go into production

and the Monument to Women Memorial Garden is dedicated in Illinois. In January of 79, the

State Controlling Board of Ohio agrees to pay $675,000 to the families of students killed or

injured in the Kent State shooting nine years prior. Whether you take that as an attempt to made

amends, the story of the 1970 KSU protest was still in the news. The event was long over with,

but the families would not let their children be forgotten.

 In America alone, it is clear that the world was far from peace. The same statement can be

made for today. But people werent inactive. They worked against the wrong they saw in the

world. They grieved, remembered, resisted. In the 14,054 days since that eclipse in 1979, the

world has changed. The list of the good and the bad that has happened since then could probably

wrap itself around the moon at least once. But the world keeps turning, the moon waxes and

wanes, the sun rises and falls. The human race Is still here. Progress has been made, but so have

setbacks. What did they do in 1979? Remember and resist. So what must we do in 2017?

Remember and resist. Darkness has always scared us, but it has never stopped us. Remember and

resist.