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Saturday, November 22, 2003
Remembrance
Today is the anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination. Yes, I'm old enough to not only have been born then, but I actually remember where I was when I heard about it. This is a common thing, really. I've heard that older people always remember when they first heard about Pearl Harbor and the current generation will certainly always remember where and how they first learned about the events of 9/ 11. I also remember being on an elevator and someone telling me of the Challenger disaster.
Forty years ago on November 22, I was in school and the principal broke into the class via a pa system (that I'd never noticed before) to announce to the whole school that the president had been assassinated. My classmates and I were young enough to not be sure what that meant. Was the president really dead, or just shot? And why would anyone want to do that anyway? President Kennedy was hugely popular in my view. In fact, I've still never known any president to be as highly regarded as he was.
Our teacher understood though. Just a few days earlier he had pointed out to us the 'zero rule' or whatever it's popularly called. There was an odd coincidence that presidents elected in years ending in a zero always seemed to die in office whether by natural causes or unnatural ones. And President Kennedy had been elected in 1960. After that announcement, our teacher must have realized that he had unwittingly predicted the president's death. I know he looked as if someone had physically struck him.
I thought we'd be sent home at once, but I was wrong. We stayed in school for the rest of the normal day. But it was hardly normal. When I got home, the TV wasn't turned on. So I was the the one who broke the news to my mother. And the next three days was spent in an orgy of TV-viewing, watching the events unfold before us. And the TV showed ONLY the coverage of those events. From Jack Ruby, to the people filing past for one last glimpse of JFK laying-in-state, to the funeral procession, the TV showed it all. And we watched like the rest of America.
Forty years ago on November 22, I was in school and the principal broke into the class via a pa system (that I'd never noticed before) to announce to the whole school that the president had been assassinated. My classmates and I were young enough to not be sure what that meant. Was the president really dead, or just shot? And why would anyone want to do that anyway? President Kennedy was hugely popular in my view. In fact, I've still never known any president to be as highly regarded as he was.
Our teacher understood though. Just a few days earlier he had pointed out to us the 'zero rule' or whatever it's popularly called. There was an odd coincidence that presidents elected in years ending in a zero always seemed to die in office whether by natural causes or unnatural ones. And President Kennedy had been elected in 1960. After that announcement, our teacher must have realized that he had unwittingly predicted the president's death. I know he looked as if someone had physically struck him.
I thought we'd be sent home at once, but I was wrong. We stayed in school for the rest of the normal day. But it was hardly normal. When I got home, the TV wasn't turned on. So I was the the one who broke the news to my mother. And the next three days was spent in an orgy of TV-viewing, watching the events unfold before us. And the TV showed ONLY the coverage of those events. From Jack Ruby, to the people filing past for one last glimpse of JFK laying-in-state, to the funeral procession, the TV showed it all. And we watched like the rest of America.
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