Hope and time are inseparable. We divide ourselves into nations based on cultures and lines drawn on maps. But humans as a collective all cling to hope. If there is one thing next to love that is common among humans of all nations, it is hope. But time plays its role as well. The story of LZ 129 Hindenburg tells the story of both, and how 90 seconds changed it all.
But one singular event can challenge even the strongest hopes. For an individual. For a community. For the world.
What is hope to you? How do you define it through your perceived experiences? Have you experienced a significant life event that challenged or bolstered your own hopes?
In May, 1937, a new form of transatlantic air travel was on the verge of becoming the next big thing. For a nearly three decades, airships took to the skies handling various duties. Beginning in the 1920s, airships ferried passengers from place to place, including crossing the ocean.
That all changed on May 6, 1937. Whether you realize it or glossed over it, you have probably seen the iconic images of a burning airship, known to most people simply as a “blimp.” The expectations and hopes and dreams of generations changed forever in 90 seconds.
What you may not know is that this image represents so much more. A day that changed the future of air travel forever. A day that brought the world moving images and sound recordings never before seen by the mass public. Videos and sounds that told a horrid story of loss. Of tragedy. And unfortunately, a day where a collective hope for the future saw its darkest hour of the time.
That’s another theme explored in this podcast episode: Time. Time and its place in history are relative for each person to the context of when and where they were born. What is tragic to one generation, something jarring and haunting, may be nothing more than a near-forgotten photo decades later. Do we remember what history taught us a hundred years ago? Listen and think about your own experiences in the world you know, and the context in which you know it.
Join host Robert Falkenberg for a minute-by-minute account of the day the LZ 129 Hindenburg sailed the skies over New Jersey until it made its final approach. Not just for the end of that voyage, but for all time.
Approximately 30 minutes.
Enjoyed this episode? Leave a review! Also, check out Episode 009, Lions and Kittens: Stoicism, Ernest Hemingway, and Santiago.
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