Good morning my fellow Rotarians. It was 50 years ago this very day at 12:30 pm, the president of the United States was shot in Dallas, TX.
President John F Kennedy, was shot in the West End district and lived only 30 minutes. Our country was in shock.
Many of you may not remember, or maybe you weren’t even born. Your Kennedy event might be the day the Challenger exploded, or it may be 9-11. In each case you most likely remember exactly where you were, what you with doing, who you were doing it with. An event frozen in time like it was yesterday. For my dad it was the bombing of Pearl Harbor when he was 9 years old.
I was 9 as well when Kennedy was shot. I was in the 4th grade and the remember when someone came to my classroom and told us we needed to go to the Spanish room to watch a report on TV by Walter Cronkite. We did, the girls and my teacher cried and we were sent home early. On the bus everyone was fairly quiet. When I got home my mom was sitting on the floor of the living room in front of the TV crying.
My wife remembers at the age of 3 that it was during “As the World Turns” and she was sitting at the table eating lunch. Wow, I don’t remember anything from being three.
For our country the murder of our president was the most traumatic wake up call since the assassination of Lincoln. Some say it was the end of our country’s innocence, the end of a Camelot story. And with the Vietnam War escalating times would be tough for our country during the 60’s.
One thing that is amazing about America is that every time we are dealt a blow, we re-group and come back stronger. Think about it. After every disaster, we come back stronger.
With Thanksgiving around the corner it is the perfect time to pause, reflect and give thanks for every blessing we have. We live in the greatest country on the planet and sometimes I think we forget how blessed we are.
As a friend says… always have an attitude of gratitude. Have a great Thanksgiving!
And this is the Bottom of the News for this Friday, November 22, 2013. ###
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