Everyone
who was alive and a functioning human being remembers where they were when
President Kennedy was killed. It was one week past my 17th birthday, and I was hanging
out at the student government office with many of my friends. The Principal announced it over the
sound system, and we were stunned, and in those days, confused. Why would
anyone shoot a President who was so valuable to the nation’s happiness?
President
Kennedy was young, and as far as we knew vital. We all wanted to graduate and
spend time in the Peace Corps, or at least find a way to give back to the
nation. Remember, we were the generation, who after the assassination, wanted
to dedicate our lives to the cause of human rights and to the end of a war we
all felt was an injustice.
But
back to November 22. It was already a week past my birthday. So when
everyone yelled “surprise,” in the basement of my house, I was truly
surprised. And now when I think about it, my friends opted not to cancel
the surprise party. And because we were 17, and without a sense of how really
devastating the assassination was, we partied like we always did, without any
sense of anything outside the periphery of our everyday lives.
Now,
fifty years later when everyone is writing about where they were on the
terrible day, it occurs to me that it is not important where we were. Because
what is really important is that we lost not only the leader of the nation, but
we lost the spirit of what this country could be if governed by someone
who understood the potential of what this nation could have been.
There
was no President who ever had the kind of favorable ratings that President
Kennedy had. We were all convinced that he would not only guide us, but he
would protect us against outside sources who want to destroy us. I
remember that after the Cuban missile crisis we all covered our heads when we
went outside. But there was never a time when we said, “this President is an
idiot, what is he doing challenging the Russians.” Never. We thought if he was going to challenge the Russians,
it was the right thing to do. And we would all follow his lead.
His
lead… He was an inspirational leader and a man with a quick wit and a
determination that we have not seen since. So yes, when I was seventeen,
I was saddened by his death and the funeral and the devastation of the family.
But
his death was the end of a dream we all had about the great nation we could
be. After his death we were on our own to do what we thought was
right, without much guidance,. But to do it with great hope and determination,
and to make a better future for all of us and the families we were yet to
have. We’re just sayin’… Iris