JFK
It was afternoon and I was on my way to a chemistry class. I had stopped for a drink of water when the news came over the speakers in the classrooms.
For those who weren’t alive at the time: remember what you felt on September 11, 2001 for a taste of November 22, 1963. It was a massive change for the worldview of my generation and it marked the beginning of a period of disruption and decline in the civility of American society. Arthur had died and Camelot fell.
At his inauguration John Kennedy made the point: “If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.”
The colors of my world will never be as bright as they were on November 21, 1963.
I see little hope that there will be any change for the better as the current President attempts to return to a time that never existed = the good old days of Reagan.
4 comments
I was sitting in Home-Ec class. The teacher was demonstrating how to knead bread.
I was 1 in 1963, but remember growing up with images of the Kennedy’s everywhere, in our house, in schools, in diners, etc.
My parents honeymooned in Santa Barbara because the Kennedy’s did and my mother took me riding when I was little because that’s what Jackie did. Thus began my life of loving horses and having a fondness for President Kennedy.
It seems like most of those who remember were in school when they found out.
He was from a new generation, Jill, and things were looking up after the stagnation following World War II and Korea. The Presidency seemed closer to the people.