Nov. 22, 2003 - 18:22 PST

THE WONDERING JEW

Lifetime

Some forty years ago something precious was taken from us. The life of our president by assination. Since then there has been controversy over almost every aspect of that horrible deed.

I think regardless of whether we were Democrats or Republicans, we lost - big. I think there was a sense of security then, the Cuban Missle Crisis possibly gave us a sense that someone responsible was watching the store. Of course mistakes were made, clumsy ones at that. But what administrative entity lives without the proclivity to make mistakes ?

The trauma of the event was almost physical to most of us. JFK was ours, part of ourselves, expressing the things we would have said had we the words and forum to address.

It seemed to me that he was aligned with the poor Joe even though his family was rich. His words, "Ich bin ein Berliner," were spoken to common folk like me. They rang true, as well as those words, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country," inspired some of us at least to reconsider our lines of thought and amend them a bit.

Kennedy was charismatic leader it seemed to me, a man to respect and support. One thing I am getting tired of is the alleged fact the he was a womanizer. I think that was between his wife and his god. A statesman being a womanizer goes way, way back into ancient history, censored to the lily white by puritanical historians through the ages so that not a whisper appears in the books we used in school. There are too many to list here, nor do I have the book to quote from any more. One thing I believe is that Benjamin Franklin cut quite a swath while in France. I don't like it, nor do I condone such behavior. But as long as a man or woman takes care of the business at hand honestly, correctly and benefits his or her country -- let it be briefly noted in history without a fuss. That is the way I think.

Was it all smoke and mirrors ? Or was our modern Camelot existant ? Long ago when Kennedy lived and people were dedicated and committed to a cause, more then than now I think. My degree of cynicism and distrust has grown through the years after that. Am I smarter now than then ? I doubt it, not really likely.

Was there a plot, a conspiracy, a group trying to accomplish some weird action against our country ? If there was the surety of that, our different services would have found that out long ago and taken the appropriate steps to apprehend the criminals. doesn't that make sense ? I think maybe a variation on the ancient idea of, "Kill the messenger," is operative here perhaps. Some one killed our president and he was so important a person in the worlds eyes that there must have been a band of conspirators plotting his demise. You know, just one little man couldn't have done it by himself.

Of course this didn't come to my mind by itself. I keep no logbook and its a pity, it would be easier to put things together much better than flying blind through my biographical meanderings and my family's history for one thing and keep things historically accurate as well. But the newspapers reminded me of this anniversary (if an assination date can be called so).

If he had lived, would he have proved his worth and brought good things to pass ? I hope so, but it won't happen by his actions now, he is dead and gone.

It was long ago, in another time and world that he was with us, not quite - then, I had lived almost half my present Lifetime . . . . . . . . . . . .

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