On Sun, 16 Nov 2003 15:07:13 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

We cried for many reasons.

I cried because I was five years old, and everyone around me was crying, and
I was scared.

Many cried for Jackie's anguish. And bravery.

Many cried at the sheer horror of seeing (in their mind's eye -- the
Zapruder film wouldn't be made public for years) a man's head blown apart on
a public street.

Many cried because they knew intuitively that the event marked a turning
point in our history, a loss of innocence. Never again would we see our
President as "one of us" -- rather, he would be made "one of them",
protected from "us" behind bullet-proof glass.

Never again could we look at political crowds in the same way, knowing that
there would always be Oswalds lurking in the shadows, with rifles. Because
of the lunatics and *******s amongst us, we would see no more top hats in
open carriages.

The national mourning for JFK that resonates till today had very little to
do with the man himself, IMHO.

Jay,
I am your age, less one year, and remember it as you, though not
as well as you.
As you said, when the story was told afterwards, it was the
bullet-proof glass which came after and separated us from our leaders
that cost us. (But why such dangerous politics?) We -did- hurt over
that, but I think there was more. We cried (we were shocked!) because
a king _was_ killed. We thought he was our king because we were a
'we' then, (or thought we were), and then in the following years we
weren't us anymore.
We thought he was our king, but he was not. He was their's, and
even now they continue to pretend as if he were our's, as if that were
even possible. That's part of the reason why there was trouble,
though it wasn't ours in the making -- unless we could be blamed for
his killing, for establishing them in office in the first place. But
could we be blamed for killing their king? (I write that believing it
were the commies who got to him, not 'us'. They had the grudge then.)
The question I haven't answered is who are 'they?' Those who
demand civil rights, where such rights (and most everything else) were
not of their own making, and could not have been.

.... Give credit where credit is due, and don't allow them to take it.
.... Ownership by demand is simply theft.
.... R-A-C-I-S-M, (look at it!) It cannot 'just go away.'

------------------------------------

Off-topic, back to on-topic...
I read this newsgroup almost everyday, though rarely posting. I do
have plans, but not yet a flyer. I read it because I am interested in
flight, but that would not keep me here. (It is not for it's in-depth
coverage of political issues. :') RAP is the clearest in
communication, most personable newsgroup at least that I'm aware of.
I like it, a lot. (But please keep those occasional Kennedy floods to
a minimum. I know, it isn't 'your' group. But at times it does seem
that way.)

Thanks,
Mike