Day: November 22, 2003

Can you be betwixt without being between? If not, why not? If so, what’s the purpose of being both? Should you be required to make a choice, or is there a philosophical conflict?

Think about it.

PAD

To the best of my recollection…I was only seven at the time…I was in school when I learned that President Kennedy had been shot and killed.

The main thing I recall is that I’d never seen adults cry until that point. My teachers were crying and when I got home, my folks were crying. I was more upset by that than by Kennedy’s death, because the presidency, death…these were ephemera to me. But adults crying…that scared me. I didn’t know they did such things.

When Johnson was elected, I remember watching the inauguration and asking when they would shoot him. My parents were appalled by the question. They didn’t understand that I knew Lincoln had been shot and that Kennedy had been shot. So I just figured that was SOP. You’re a president until someone kills you, at which point a new one is brought in. Oh yeah. I was a real Quiz Kid.

When I grew up, I did an internship at the Gannett newspaper chain. When the anniversary of the assassination came around, out of curiosity I checked the newspapers’ editorials before JFK’s death and the day after. I found exactly what I thought I would. The day before, the editorials were scathing. Critical of JFK, his policies, his every decision. The day after he was shot…180 degree turn. He was a president with vision, he was going to carry the country to greatness, etc. I just found that…interesting.

PAD