Where Were You?

Where were you on November 22, 1963? The answer for most of you is "I wasn't born yet." I have vivid memories of that horrible day when our President was assassinated. It doesn't seem like 50 years has passed.

I was 8 years old and in third grade in a tiny school in a tiny town in central Texas. Our teacher, Mrs. Sheldon, told us the terrible news and arranged for a radio to be set on the window ledge of our classroom so that we could hear the news reports. We were a lively, active group of students and I'm sure we didn't fully grasp the implications of what had just happened in Dallas but I recall that we sat in stunned silence. We probably didn't get much work for the remainder of the day.

Then I went home and found my parents glued to our old black and white television set. They were stunned, too. My memories include seeing Walter Cronkite, a nationally known and respected newscaster, shed tears on live t.v., of seeing Lyndon Johnson being sworn in as President, and of staying at home on the day of the state funeral in Washington. I was mesmerized by the pomp and ceremony of it all and touched when the young son of JFK saluted his father's casket. It's a day I'll never forget.

It mattered not whether one had supported JFK in his bid to become President or not. Our nation was saddened to lose our leader in such a violent and tragic way.

What lessons did we learn? Well, we learned that more should be done to protect our national leaders. We learned that our nation is not immune to violence. We learned that we must teach our children that the ballot, not the end of a gun, is the best way to affect the political climate of our country in a positive way.

Have we learned those lessons? Perhaps. I hope we have. But I see, hear, and read a lot of vitriolic comments regarding this politician or that politician or this policy or that policy and I sometimes wonder.......

Let's teach our children to respect our leaders whether we agree with them or not. Let's teach our children to express their opinions in positive ways. Let's teach our children to pray--for friends, family members, government officials, and even those we consider enemies.