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The clock above the Thames said 502 on the afternoon of May the 18th, 1965. It was a minute of absolutely no importance to the weather. Observer 502 brought no new records of heat or rainfall. No weather conditions separated it from a normal minute of spring. London

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as well as the rest of the world ignored the hands of Big Ben. The Prime Minister barely noticed the time to other leaders of the world 502 brought no new treaty or crisis, no new decisions or dispute. And

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so to the historian 502 would go by unrecorded and unacknowledged. But for the two thirds of the world who lived in freedom on May the 18th 502 was significant, but it was another minute spent in doing what they chose to do though their freedom went on

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as unnoticed as the time 502 was theirs to work. If they wanted to work to dream, if they wanted to dream to live as they wanted to live, attempt to define a minute of freedom around the world. And the attempt will find no better definition than

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freedom is 502 to eulogize a forgotten minute of freedom stories without beginnings or ends without historical significance were recorded in 20 cities. While the hands of Big Ben in London said 502, some who were alive then are not

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alive anymore. Some who were not born then are now living all over the world. Clocks are set by the rise and fall of the sun. And so while it was 502 in London, it was 602 on the continent. Sunrise was over the Pacific Ocean and it

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was 602 in the morning on a South Sea Island. It was midday in the wide farmlands of Latin America. Sunset was in East Africa and north of the Arabian Sea. It was 832. There was darkness in Asia and it was 1002 in one land and 1032

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at a wedding south of the himal 7000 miles away from the wedding ceremony. Villagers of a Pacific Islander woke early to bring their clothes to the shore and wash them in the ocean waters. In

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a divided city of Europe. Pastel artists lined the Cesan dam and created images on cement a short distance from the Kersten Dam. Pastel and politics mixed Asia southeast of Baluchistan at 1002 and a night bazaar was ready to

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close as May the 18th had less than two hours left to exist in the old capital city at the same time May the 18th was new on the western coast of North America and a salesman was two minutes late to work

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on a desert. In the Mideast 502 was a minute of building above the dunes as sand formed the base of a new city desolation and heat were ignored as May the 18th became one of 400 days of construction. No more. The desert tent but permanent buildings

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of concrete and steel time. The afternoon rain was over in mid Africa and a train took businessman home from work in South America. The sun beat heavy and in the large areas of

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agriculture, young men from foreign land shared their knowledge of farming techniques with the citizens who requested them though their homes were widely separated. They shared a common time and a common knowledge that what could benefit one country could benefit the world in

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Europe, the school day was over and a hall called the scene became alive with music and the dances of 1965 200 miles east 502 was a spring holiday. The tourists of summer had yet to arrive. And while the vacation lands were still uncrowded, a

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few found their isolation on the water. The clock was paper and so was the house that stood beneath it glittering with decoration and so was the car and so was the man for death had come and in an Asian country, the paper

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houses and cars and boats would be burned to accompany the deceased man's spirit in heaven away from the urban centers of Africa. The peace and contentment of village life went on at 502 as a family ate dinner by the

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village. Well, a library in Latin America welcomed people of every age to share its cloth bound knowledge at a spaceport in North America. No new planets or stars were probed

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at 502 for it was two minutes afternoon on the eastern coast and progress in space took an hour off for lush at a savings bank between the Atlantic and the Caribbean. The manager of the bank employed men, women and machines. And all three computed the

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savings of the customers at 502 for a child in Scandinavia May the 18th, 1965 was bright and free of rain and a walkway by a Scandinavian canal became a playground. During the same minute in North America, a woman lay in a

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hospital, attended by a doctor and nurse. Within this minute, she became a mother, her husband became a father and a new human being arrived on earth for a brief moment. The child would be the youngest person in the world. Chapultepec

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Park in Latin America was alive at 502 and its wheels and rides revolve faster than the second hand of a clock. But freedom is not always a carnival or holiday. And 502 across Saint George's channel was merely a time to take a walk and purchase

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a bag of potatoes in Southeast Asia the 20th and last story of 502 was a successful escape. Seven refugees sought and spent their first minute on free soil. Eulogies are written for those that have gone and 502 is gone.

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None of the events of this minute were extraordinary. Some of them could have been accomplished within or without freedom. But the significance of the free people of 502 was that they chose where they would be and what they would do. Historians write of freedom with glowing

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tributes of bugles, calling and flags, waving and liberated throngs, cheering and brave nations chisel monuments to their grandest leaders, their valiant soldiers and their honored dead. But the hero is the moment, the moment all the valiant men have lived and died for the moment of reward.

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The minute passing by in the disguise of unimportance, right? Within the long history of earth. They shared a common time when this picture is over, a new minute will start and all the free men who will live and breathe that minute may spend it

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as they choose in their homes beneath the sky or in this theater.