50 Years

In anyone’s lifetime there are usually 2, maybe 3 events that prompt that “where were you when …” question. Over the past 50 years there have been more, many more. The 911 attack, the first and second gulf wars starting with a night of “shock & awe”, Impeachment of Bill Clinton, Resignation of Richard Nixon, end of the Viet Nam war, assassinations of Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and of course John F. Kennedy. I was a little young to take in the Cuban missile crisis, but that one would be in there too.

The Kennedy Assassination has kept the country pondering all the facts and unknowns for a very long time and even today there continues the theory of a 2nd gunman despite the ever growing body of evidence now being shown to the general public. At this point the biggest mystery that remains is primarily the “why” this evidence was not shown to the public much earlier. Granted some items like the digital enhancement of the three primary films (only recently did the other two appear) have only recently answered a number of questions and re-enactments by proper forensic scientists seem to have answered the balance of the remainder. Hats off to National Geographic for their recent articles showing this evidence and clearing up a lot of misconceptions. More remain and some can never be answered, but that which now exists, helps tremendously.

I personally remember our grade school being suddenly dismissed and everyone sent home on the bus without explanation. One of my teachers was on the bus, which was highly unusual, and she broke the news that the President was dead. We all started crying, many of us not really understanding why but we all sensed there was a great loss that day, even if we did not know why.

As I think back over so many tragedies that we, as a people, have endured I am somewhat surprised we survived it all; but in retrospect, I think it all acts as a reminder of just how enduring we are. We survive things that weaker countries have fallen apart over. We put our shortcomings and politically embarrassing episodes right out in front for all the world to see, we get up and dust ourselves off, returning to the path we travel, hopefully a little wiser for the experience. I can think of few countries that can make a similar claim.

So while I watch our President apologize for his mistakes, watch our congress prove again and again that they can find just one more stupid thing to do badly, watch our economy struggle for what seems to be an endless cycle, watch our system of education continue to decline, and so many more …. I still find myself thankful to live here. We continue to survive and we continue to grow stronger and can only hope our own kids are learning a few lessons along the way.

On November 22nd at 1 pm (Dallas time) I will again shed a few tears remembering a sadder time when a promising young president was taken from us; but I will also remember that our nation stood as one and learned a harsh lesson that served us well as time marched on. We are so very fortunate to be a part of this history. We can only hope that the historians are writing it all down so our grandchildren and their grandchildren can continue to understand the price of freedom as well as it’s benefits.