Recently, as we remember the 50th anniversary of the death of President Kennedy, I got into discussions about those moments in history that we always remember.

People talk about the day JFK was shot, the day John Lennon was shot, September 11th. It seems it is often the sad days we remember. Today is another sad day. Nelson Mandela has died.

Yet I remember the day Nelson Mandela was released. It was February 11, 1990. It was a Sunday morning when we heard the news. I was living on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It was twelve days before my first daughter was born.

We headed off to Grace Episcopal Church at Tenth and Broadway and the jubilation filled the church.