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. Now we have elected Trump…
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That was a major shock comparable to the 9/11 attack. I was 15, and just off the boat from Japan (father was a navy man). I couldn’t understand why people on the docks were crying. Loudspeakers were blaring, but the sound was distorted. Suddenly I understood. The next several days were spent at a relatives house in SoCal mostly indoors watching the reporting. It was a tremendously sad and disorienting time of my life, and the lives of my family, and the lives of my fellow citizens…
Before the announcement there were several students shouting in the halls the president had been shot. Then came the announcement. Even though it was a bright sunny day out by the tennis courts my eyes darkened and a great chill took me. Play stopped. The students headed for the locker rooms and I saw I wasn’t the only one weeping.
Our President was dead.
I’ve not recalled anything else from that day
They set up a television in the gym/auditorium and most of the school was down there trying to understand what was going on. The Cuban Missile Crisis wasn’t that long before and the rumors spread, even without the Internet.