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I post on Monday with an occasional random blog thrown in for good measure. I do my best to answer all comments via email and visit around on the days I post.

Friday, November 22, 2013

Where I Was

I usually post on Thursdays but about a week ago I realized that today is the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination.

John F. Kennedy, White House color photo portrait
Fifty years. Many of you probably weren't yet born and have no clear idea of how schizophrenic the '60s and early '70s were. There were horrible riots and the Summer of Love. The assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy and Woodstock. Viet Nam was funneled into our homes via the nightly news and we saw war in a way that had never been seen before but we also landed on the moon. The National Guard shot four students to death at Kent State and the Merry Pranksters took a road trip across the US.

For all the peace and love, drugs, sex and rock and roll, tune in, turn on and drop out, these were ten terribly turbulent years which, I think, began on November 22, 1963. It marked the end of innocence.

Sometime after 2:30 PM (JFK will killed at 12:30 central time which put the Virgin Islands 2 hours ahead) our school principal came into our classroom to make an announcement. That in itself was unusual because there was a PA system she could have used. I remember there was a worried or sad look on her face as she stood in front of the class and told us that our president, John F. Kennedy, had been assassinated, shot to death, in Dallas. She said our parents were being called and school would be let out early. We normally got out at 3:30, so our day was almost over anyway. It was also a Friday, so we had the week-end to try to wrap our heads around what had happened.

I was thirteen, very naive, and didn't understand the workings of government. I thought the United States was about to descend into some kind of anarchy, that civil war would break out and the country, as I knew it, would cease to exist.

It's odd, but that's really all I remember of that day. I'm sure when I was picked up, my parents explained things to me and that I was reassured. But I don't know. All I remember is how frightened I was.

Four years later, at 17, I got to spend a whole summer with a family in Arlington, Virginia. We kids were free to roam Washington, DC on our own. We spent a lot of time at the Smithsonian. I saw Macbeth on The Mall, walked up the Washington Monument twice, and stood at the feet of that great statue of Abraham Lincoln.

I also went to the Arlington National Cemetery.
JFK grave

The country didn't cease to exist. 

And that summer The Beatles came out with All You Need is Love. What a time to be a teenager.

Love, love, love
Love, love, love
Love, love, love

 There's nothing you can do that can't be done
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game
It's easy

 Nothing you can make that can't be made
No one you can save that can't be saved
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time
It's easy

 All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need

 Love, love, love
Love, love, love
Love, love, love

 All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need

 Nothing you can know that isn't known
Nothing you can see that isn't shown
Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be
It's easy

 All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need

 All you need is love (All together, now!)
All you need is love (Everybody!)
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Yee-hai! (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)

 Yesterday (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Oh yeah! (Love is all you need)
She loves you, yeah yeah yeah (Love is all you need)
She loves you, yeah yeah yeah (Love is all you need)

What memories do you have that will always stay with you, where you'll always remember exactly where you were and what you were doing when you heard the news?

I have so many... Landing on the moon. The assassination of John Lennon. Apollo 13. The Challenger explosion. The tearing down of the Berlin Wall. The death of Jimi Hendrix. The first time I saw The Beatles on TV.
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11 comments:

  1. Alex J. CavanaughNovember 22, 2013 at 5:31 AM

    I wasn't yet born, although I do remember some of the 60's. Just a shock that someone could kill the president. I remember when Reagan was shot - that was freaky.
    I remember many of the things you mentioned, but the Challenger explosion really stands out. I remember I was in college and a group of us watched it happen live.

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  2. Natalie AguirreNovember 22, 2013 at 6:48 AM

    I was in grade school then so remember the announcement and much that went on in the 60s. Because I was so young, Martin Luther King's and Robert Kennedy's assassinations really impacted me more.

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  3. ManzanitaNovember 22, 2013 at 6:52 AM

    At that time just about everyone still believed our government was "looking out for us." We put faith in our elected officials and no one really knew what was going on in Washington. Many of my neighbors were buiding bomb shelters but no one really knew how close we came to WW3. We loved our president but the full impact of what a truly magnanimous, caring
    and pious man he really was, never became apparent to me until many years later. He was a courageous patriot who gave his life for our country. Kids surely can't believe what they feed them in history books.
    That day 50 years ago.... I sat watching in complete shock in front of our little TV in the kitchen. Then later, Ruby shot Oswald right in front of our eyes...... unbelievabke.
    I still choke up when I remember those days.
    Thanks for the special post.

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  4. Hilary Melton-ButcherNovember 22, 2013 at 11:23 AM

    Hi Bish .. I was at school and heard it announced over the radio .. and was shocked - first time I'd experienced shock like that ...

    And there was lots going on wasn't there .. even across the pond ..

    Have a good weekend - Hilary

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  5. VijayaNovember 22, 2013 at 11:51 AM

    I was born after this, but I can only imagine it as an event that stops time for all ... most of the memorable events for me are disasters: 9-11, Chernobyl, Challenger ... but I think the election of the new Pope has got to be one of the most happy memories I have.

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  6. Susan KaneNovember 22, 2013 at 3:09 PM

    I was in 7th grade, not yet 12 yrs. The principal spoke to our class. The silence I remember most.

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  7. UnknownNovember 23, 2013 at 5:24 AM

    I wasn't born yet, but I've watched the video footage a few hundred times. Probably not the same thing as experiencing it live, though.

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  8. Gina GaoNovember 23, 2013 at 11:41 AM

    I wasn't born at the time, but I can only imagine the impact such an event would cause.

    www.modernworld4.blogspot.com

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  9. farawayeyesNovember 23, 2013 at 3:46 PM

    Finally, I've made my way back to your space. I could use some VI warmth right about now.

    Unfortunately, there are far too many traumatic things to remember from my lifetime and like most, I know right where I was and what I was doing when these things occurred.

    I have to agree with Alex that the Challenger was particularly dramatic, because anyone watching saw it happen LIVE. I remember watching and thinking 'that doesn't look right'. Of course, that was followed by seeing the Twin Towers topple LIVE on television at the turn of this century. My 'what a strange trip it has been'.

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  10. LizaNovember 23, 2013 at 9:31 PM

    I was five, so my memories are slim. Maybe my sister coming home from school crying, and the TV being on all the time for the funeral. My husband is the same age as me. I said to him today, "Isn't it weird that such a formative thing happened during our lives, but we were too young to really get it?"

    As for other memories, John Lennon, Harry Chapin, the Challenger, and always 9/11.

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  11. MarciaDecember 6, 2013 at 3:51 PM

    I was 12. I remember the details of getting the announcement from the principal when I was in art class, but what I mostly remember is just the shock. And then watching the shooting of Oswald on live TV. And being glued to the funeral procession, the riderless horse, the salute by JFK Jr. I think you're absolutely right that "the 60s" began then. I think it's always a couple of years into a decade before the identity of that decade is really launched.

    ReplyDelete

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