I Rewatched a 1985 Event and It Shocked Me — Not Because of the Technology, But Because of Us

Has the world gone mad? And who or what is to blame?

Photo courtesy of author

I’m not going to discuss what’s happening in the world today.

Others are already doing that — endlessly and obsessively. I can’t open a single website or social media app without encountering the same cycle of alarming headlines and “experts” making grand statements, many of which don’t even sound like they come from real experts. Anyone could make these kinds of statements.

So I was relieved when I stumbled upon something different. Something from the past. A moment frozen in time: February 21, 1985. The day that, at least in the Netherlands, the world seemed to stand still. The Elfstedentocht — the legendary Eleven Cities Tour — was back after twenty-two years.

If you’re not Dutch or a skating nerd, let me break it down: this is the Super Bowl of long-distance ice skating. A 200-kilometer race — about 120 miles — across frozen canals, rivers, and lakes, only held when the ice is thick enough. The last one had been in 1963, so by 1985, people were losing their minds.

I was fifteen and remember sitting in front of the TV at 5:10 AM, watching 300 skaters get ready to endure a brutal marathon. Since…