Today, I am going to go off-topic. I believe I have good reason: This is the 50th anniversary of JFK's assasination.
I was five years old when it happened and have no memory of it. Perhaps that says something unfavorable about me: I can remember a lot of other things from that time, but I can't even recall having the day off from school or the throngs of grieving people.
Still, I can't help but to wonder how different this country and world might be had he survived and served a second term as President. He did some things that were misguided and politically-motivated, but I somehow think he had a more ideal, if romantic, view of people, his country and the world.
Perhaps the US military still would have been in Vietnam and we might have been involved in other wars. After all, the man was a Cold Warrior, as nearly any politician elected to any office above the local or county level was in those days.
Also, he didn't act as quickly on Civil Rights issues as some would have liked. However, he did lay the groundwork for the laws and policies that his successor, Lyndon Johnson, would sign into law. And, somehow, I don't think it would have taken prodding from his vice president (as it did, ahem, with a certain President who fashions himself as JFK 2.0) for him to declare his support of same-sex marriage and other LGBT rights.
Whatever else we can (or can't) say about him, we "gotta give him props" for saying, "Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride."
I was five years old when it happened and have no memory of it. Perhaps that says something unfavorable about me: I can remember a lot of other things from that time, but I can't even recall having the day off from school or the throngs of grieving people.
Still, I can't help but to wonder how different this country and world might be had he survived and served a second term as President. He did some things that were misguided and politically-motivated, but I somehow think he had a more ideal, if romantic, view of people, his country and the world.
Perhaps the US military still would have been in Vietnam and we might have been involved in other wars. After all, the man was a Cold Warrior, as nearly any politician elected to any office above the local or county level was in those days.
Also, he didn't act as quickly on Civil Rights issues as some would have liked. However, he did lay the groundwork for the laws and policies that his successor, Lyndon Johnson, would sign into law. And, somehow, I don't think it would have taken prodding from his vice president (as it did, ahem, with a certain President who fashions himself as JFK 2.0) for him to declare his support of same-sex marriage and other LGBT rights.
Whatever else we can (or can't) say about him, we "gotta give him props" for saying, "Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride."
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