“There is only one thing on my bucket list; I don’t want to die without knowing the truth about JFK’s assassination.” I have said this to my wife, children, and friends many times over the last few years, but I have been thinking it for decades.
I was twelve-years-old sitting in my middle-school music class when we heard the news. It was …
“There is only one thing on my bucket list; I don’t want to die without knowing the truth about JFK’s assassination.” I have said this to my wife, children, and friends many times over the last few years, but I have been thinking it for decades.
I was twelve-years-old sitting in my middle-school music class when we heard the news. It was so visceral and monumental that no one questioned that we needed to go home. I have yet to meet any American of my generation whose school did not close as soon as the news came through. It’s hard to imagine any event having the same impact today. Why? I think Kennedy embodied the American ideal; an America at its best with even better days to come. The “face” of America was as thoughtful, witty, and moral as he was movie-star handsome. It was the face America saw in the mirror and the world saw as America. We all loved him…almost as much as we loved Jackie. My grandmother, who spoke only Yiddish, had a photo of Kennedy taped to her kitchen wall. I had to laugh. Could anyone look more Catholic and less Jewish?
Then, that charming face and those brilliant brains, were blown to pieces. Even before it became obvious, even to a 12-year-old, that something deeply nefarious was happening when Ruby shot Oswald in a police station surrounded by 70 officers with TV cameras rolling, I felt that dark forces had destroyed all that was light. In an instant, optimism turned to despair. The future, my future, now looked bleak and troubled.
These were strong, unusual, and sophisticated emotions for a child, which may be why they have been so indelible. I had no control over them and they surprised and confounded me. I live with them still. I don´t know why and I wish I didn´t feel them So, it’s been very helpful to learn from the posts to ¨Where Were You When?¨ that so many of my peers have similar feelings. And some were just in primary school at the time.
After listening to the final episode of Rob Reiner and Soledad O’Brien’s podcast, ¨Who Killed JFK?¨ my wife asked me, only half-joking, if I can now die in peace. Unfortunately, I still can´t. I need full disclosure. I think the JFK assassination was a virus that started what is now an epidemic of mendacity, cynicism, divisiveness, violence, and ridiculous conspiracies of every kind everywhere. American democracy is on life-support and may not survive. As long as we keep pretending that there was no virus and there is no epidemic, we will never heal. I will never heal. If those who are complicit in hiding the truth believe that the truth will tear us apart, they need to know that the cover-up is doing exactly that.
“There is only one thing on my bucket list; I don’t want to die without knowing the truth about JFK’s assassination.” I have said this to my wife, children, and friends many times over the last few years, but I have been thinking it for decades.
I was twelve-years-old sitting in my middle-school music class when we heard the news. It was so visceral and monumental that no one questioned that we needed to go home. I have yet to meet any American of my generation whose school did not close as soon as the news came through. It’s hard to imagine any event having the same impact today. Why? I think Kennedy embodied the American ideal; an America at its best with even better days to come. The “face” of America was as thoughtful, witty, and moral as he was movie-star handsome. It was the face America saw in the mirror and the world saw as America. We all loved him…almost as much as we loved Jackie. My grandmother, who spoke only Yiddish, had a photo of Kennedy taped to her kitchen wall. I had to laugh. Could anyone look more Catholic and less Jewish?
Then, that charming face and those brilliant brains, were blown to pieces. Even before it became obvious, even to a 12-year-old, that something deeply nefarious was happening when Ruby shot Oswald in a police station surrounded by 70 officers with TV cameras rolling, I felt that dark forces had destroyed all that was light. In an instant, optimism turned to despair. The future, my future, now looked bleak and troubled.
These were strong, unusual, and sophisticated emotions for a child, which may be why they have been so indelible. I had no control over them and they surprised and confounded me. I live with them still. I don´t know why and I wish I didn´t feel them So, it’s been very helpful to learn from the posts to ¨Where Were You When?¨ that so many of my peers have similar feelings. And some were just in primary school at the time.
After listening to the final episode of Rob Reiner and Soledad O’Brien’s podcast, ¨Who Killed JFK?¨ my wife asked me, only half-joking, if I can now die in peace. Unfortunately, I still can´t. I need full disclosure. I think the JFK assassination was a virus that started what is now an epidemic of mendacity, cynicism, divisiveness, violence, and ridiculous conspiracies of every kind everywhere. American democracy is on life-support and may not survive. As long as we keep pretending that there was no virus and there is no epidemic, we will never heal. I will never heal. If those who are complicit in hiding the truth believe that the truth will tear us apart, they need to know that the cover-up is doing exactly that.