Word of the Day: RESOLVE

I want to begin my first post of 2014 with a nod to last year.  June 19, 2013, marked the first anniversary of this blog.  As if an anniversary present, it was on that very date that this blog reached 1,000 hits.  On December 18, one day shy of the year-and-a-half mark, this blog crossed the 2,000-hit mark.  In half the time of how long it took to get the first thousand hits, the second thousand hits occurred.  I am truly grateful to all of you!  I am glad you find my little corner of the blogosphere interesting enough to keep coming back.  I hope I will continue to give you reason enough to continue to do so.

A tradition for New Year's Day is making New Year's resolutions, where you resolve to start something you didn't do but should have, or to stop doing something you did but shouldn't have.  Making a resolution can, of course, be done at any time, but the start of a new year has a certain, almost inherent, quality to it that makes it somehow seem appropriate to do so then.

I do not make New Year's resolutions for that very reason (resolutions are for any time).  I often use the joke, when asked what resolutions I am making, that my resolution is to not make any resolution.  (Of course, the irony is always on me because that is a resolution!) 

New Year's resolutions run the gamut from the most popular of losing weight and quitting smoking, to perhaps less common ones like treating family and/or friends better and trying harder at work or on a project.  Most, if not all, of these share a common thread: to do better than before.

Actually, they share another common thread: New Year's resolutions are usually not kept.  It can be equally stated that many people lack will power and doing better is not always easy.  Still, the starting of a new year symbolizes starting anew, a reset, and a new set of possibilities.

One resolution I hear -- more often some years, less often other years -- is to be a nicer person toward others.  On the surface, that sounds as wonderful as it sounds small.  Granted, that may not seem as dramatic as losing weight or quitting smoking, but it is profound ... if you keep that resolution, that is.

Profound, if, each day, you treat someone, whether known to you or a stranger, in a good way.  Perhaps it is something you have done before many times or something you have done once a while; do it more frequently.  Perhaps it is something you have never done before; give it a try.

This is not to say that you should begin forcing help onto others who do not need it.  If someone truly doesn't need your help, then so be it.  Helping only for the sake of helping, as if it is something you can just check off for the day, is not the goal.  Only in extreme circumstances where someone is incapable of making clear choices on his/her own, forced help is neither helpful nor genuine.  The idea here is to make treating others better than you have before the goal.

The scope of how you treat others is not paramount, either.  Some actions are big and drastic, such as saving someone's life; some actions are smaller and more intimate, like giving someone a smile when they've had a dad day.  No bonus points for larger kinds of help.  No loss of points for smaller kinds of help.  Wait a moment ... there are no points involved!  Treating others better is just that.  Period.

Treating others better today, and then tomorrow, and again the day after that and the day after that, and so on, not only covers today.  All of your tomorrows will also be covered, and you will be making the world better than it was.  If enough of us did that, how different the world would be!

Maybe I will make a New Year's resolution of treating others better.  Maybe you will, too.  Happy New Year, dear readers!

Terry

Phrase of the Day: LAST OF THE GREATS

Over this past weekend, we lost one of the true giants in acting.  He was the last of the great actors of all time.  He was Peter O'Toole.

As with any great individual of whatever measure, there was a kind of almost mythos about the man, although he would probably say that he was just a man who lived a full life.  For starters, his birthplace:  Depending on the source, he was born in either Connemara, a small village in Ireland, or Leeds, in Yorkshire, England.  Even though he had said he had a birth certificate from both countries, many sources say that he was born in Connemara and raised in Leeds. 

He was such an actor that the mere mention of his name evoked respect and admiration.  He was such a rapscallion of a man that the mere mention of his name evoked images of wild, cavorting, bad boy behavior.  Peter O'Toole wore many hats in his lifetime.  In a commercial for the London Sunday Times in 2010, he gives what can be called a wistful (and humorous) recap of his life:

He became a newspaper copy boy in his youth, with the desire for a career in journalism.  He made the switch to acting in his late teens, saying that he preferred being the one written about, rather than the one writing about others.  His theatrical debut was at the age of seventeen.  After a two-year stint in the Royal Navy, he pursued acting again, this time by attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.  Three notable classmates of his, also well-respected and Academy Award nominated actors in their own right, included Albert Finney, Richard Harris, and Alan Bates.

He honed his acting chops for several years, performing at the renown Bristol Old Vic, often referred to as simply "the Old Vic".  In 1960, he made his silver screen debut in not one, not two, but three fairly forgettable films, 'Kidnapped', 'The Day They Robbed the Bank of England', and 'The Savage Innocents' ('Les Dents du Diable').  His life would change forever as he got the opportunity for a starring role in a film being directed by David Lean.

It netted him his first ever Academy Award nomination for the iconic role, for which he is most renowned, of T.E. Lawrence in the 1962 epic, 'Lawrence of Arabia':

Scene with Omar Sharif

Oscar would come knocking again at his door just two years later for the role of King Henry II in 'Becket', in which he played opposite another fine actor who never won an Academy Award, Richard Burton:

Before the 1960's ended, O'Toole received two more Academy Award nominations, back-to-back.  First, in 1968, for 'The Lion in Winter', playing King Henry II again, and then, in 1969, for 'Goodbye, Mr. Chips':


His only Academy Award nomination in the 1970's was for the role of Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney, the 14th Earl of Gurney, in 'The Ruling Class':

The first and third years of the 1980's brought two more Academy Award nominations.  The first was for the role of the maniacal director Eli Cross in the 1980 film, 'The Stuntman':

Scene with Barbara Hershey and Steve Railsback

The other was for his flamboyant and poignant performance of Alan Swann, an alcoholic and swashbuckling film actor (a la Errol Flynn), who is terrified about performing in front of an audience, in the delightful 1982 romp, 'My Favorite Year':

Scene with Mark Linn-Baker

As of 1983, O'Toole was tied with Richard Burton, with whom he appeared in Becket almost two decades earlier, for the most nominations without a win -- seven.  Two year later, in the Summer of 1984, Richard Burton would die.  The tie with Burton for most nominations without a win would seem to remain intact. 

At the Oscars ceremony in 1983, he was awarded with a Honorary Oscar, which he begrudgingly accepted.  He felt that an Honorary Oscar was a sign a career was over, and he asked the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to hold off on the award until he was eighty, saying that he truly felt he could win one in his own.  (O'Toole was seventy at the time.)  The Academy went ahead with the presentation:

Apologies for the Japanese subtitles.
This was the only version I could find that included the video tribute to O'Toole.

He was gracious in his acceptance speech, although his "As I totter off into antiquity" comment was a sign of his feelings about what the award symbolized to him.  It would appear that, from an Academy Award perspective, such would not be the case.

And yet, just three years later, a role came around that had the chance to prove him right.  It was the role of Maurice, a long-forgotten actor (and proverbial "dirty old man"), who becomes infatuated with a much younger woman, in the 2006 character study, 'Venus':

Scene with Jodie Whittaker, in her major motion picture debut.
She plays Jessie, Maurice's infatuation, and he has lined up for her a modeling job.

When he was nominated for the Oscar for the film, it seemed that maybe, just maybe, he would have the last laugh.  He broke the tie with Richard Burton for most nominations without a win, now eight in all, but he did not receive the award.  It would be his last flirting with Oscar.

Last year, he announced his retirement from acting, after a career of more than fifty years: 

As I mentioned earlier, Peter O'Toole was known for his rebel rousing.  Here, he shares a story on 'The Late Show with David Letterman' during his making the rounds for promoting 'Venus', as well as what he wanted for his epitaph:

And now, I, along with countless others, mourn his passing.  A little more than twenty years ago, I tried to make a go at an acting career.  While I knew I could never achieve his abilities and stature in the world of film, he was someone to whom I looked up with great respect and great admiration.  I always looked forward to seeing him on the silver screen.  It always meant a great deal to me to see him perform, although I wish I could have seen him in person on stage.  His was an on-screen presence that I both welcomed and cherished, and I consider it part of the film reel of my life.  With his passing, I admit that it feels like a part of my "acting soul", if you will, is gone.

The current President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, was a personal friend of O'Toole's.  Upon hearing the news of his friend's death, he offered this tribute:
"I have heard with great sadness of the passing of Peter O'Toole this weekend.  Ireland, and the world, has lost one of the giants of film and theatre.  In a long list of leading roles on stage and in film, Peter brought an extraordinary standard to bear as an actor.  He was unsurpassed for the grace he brought to every performance on and off the stage."

I could not agree more.  For so many wonderful performances through the years, and for your talent, which was a beauty to behold and a wonderful gift, I say thank you, sir, so much!

Goodbye, Mr. O'Toole.

Terry

Phrases of the Day: PAY ATTENTION & DO SOMETHING

Just as news has been spreading of yet another shooting at a high school today (Arapahoe County, Colorado), a sobering report came out today from The Washington Post.  The report, titled Not Only Newtown, cites how nearly 100 children were killed by gunfire last year.  The reason for highlighting this particular number of children, and naming them in this breakdown, is their ages.  The oldest child noted was just ten years old.

Ten years old, the oldest.  Six months, the youngest.

Any unnatural loss of life, particularly as a result of violence, is terrible, but when the victims are children, it hits us harder.  At these ages, however, the feeling is almost numbing.  Innocent lives ended far, far too soon.

What particularly struck me about this report is the inclusion of the mass murder at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, last year.  (The one-year anniversary is tomorrow.)  What struck me was not just the reminder of the Sandy Hook shooting, but the sheer number of those murdered.  More specifically, while the sheer number of those murdered in Sandy Hook is terrible, twenty-eight in all, the number of children murdered there (twenty) is but a fraction of the total noted in the report.

Think back to the shooting in Newtown: horrifying...saddening...angering.  So many young lives cut down.  And yet, the twenty young lives lost at Sandy Hook represents less than one-quarter of children aged ten or younger killed last year.  In fact, the actual percentage is closer to just over one-fifth of these young lives lost in 2012.

Just over one-fifth of all those killed for the entire year.

The report cites mass shootings, angry or distraught (ex-)boyfriends, angry or distraught parents, and drive-by shootings as the main settings and dynamics for these senseless deaths.  Approximately two-thirds of the shooters suffered from some form of mental illness, making arguments in favor of more steps being put in place to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally-challenged still germane, while . 

We, as a society and a nation, need to pay attention.  We need to see when someone is unstable, for whatever reason., and we need to address the issues.  We need to be open about addressing these problems, avoiding judgment and shunning.  Those in power of regulating mental health care need to step up and make a broken system whole again, just like those for whom they are meant to care.  Those in power, particularly politicians, need to get involved, and not just talk about it and put forth minimalistic actions.

This will never be acceptable and it must stop!  We must pay attention to what has gone before and we must do something to stop this epidemic.

Terry

Word of the Day: EXEMPLAR

Two days ago, the nation of South Africa lost a great man, Nelson Mandela.  One of South Africa's most-cherished sons, Mandela can be described as having lived a life that is nothing short of astonishing.  In fact, in addition to astonishing, words such as amazing, incredible, awe-inspiring, and fascinating are also fully appropriate descriptions of his life.

Born on July 18, 1918, in Mveso, a small village along the southern tip of South Africa, he was the first of his family to attend school.  Now a part of the British educational system, as South Africa was under British rule, a more "common" name had to be given to him; his teacher chose the name Nelson.  His birth name was Rolihlahla, which translates as "pulling the branch of a tree", although a much more common translation is "troublemaker".  Oh, what a troublemaker he was!

"I hate race discrimination most intensely and in all its manifestations.
I have fought it all during my life;
I fight it now, and will do so until the end of my days."  

Mandela was just nine years old when his father died, resulting in his being raised by Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo, the acting regent of the Thembu people.  Mandela developed an interest in African history, including how Africans lived in peace, cooperation, and a willingness to share, until the white people came and wanted everything for themselves.  He attended the University College of Fort Hare, working toward an interpreter or clerk career.  He joined the African National Congress in 1942, and his time was spent in peaceful, nonviolent anti-apartheid protests.  

"Real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people."

Although originally arrested and jailed in 1961 for leading a three-day workers' strike, stemming from a faction of the African National Congress (ANC) engaged in militaristic uprising, Mandela and other members of the African National Congress were convicted of sabotage in 1963.  They began serving life sentences that year.  Two-thirds of his twenty-seven-year imprisonment was spent in a 56-square foot cell on Robben Island with a straw mat on the floor as his bed.  During his time in prison, he survived tuberculosis (receiving the least amount of medical attention possible) and earned his Bachelor of Law degree. 

"For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains,
but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others."

By the 1980's, the pressure to release Mandela was rising not only within South Africa, but internationally as well.  Then-South African Prime Minister P.W. Botha offered Mandela freedom if he would renounce the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa.  Mandela refused.  Several similar offers were made to Mandela for several years with the same result.  It wouldn't be until a stroke that caused Botha to step down and be replaced by F.W de Klerk that Mandela's release would happen.

"Do not judge me by my successes,
judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again."

It was due to de Klerk's openness and willingness to work with Mandela that Mandela walked out of prison as a free man on February 11, 1990.  In addition to bringing about Mandela's release, de Klerk also lifted the ban on the African National Congress, dismantled political group restrictions, and halted executions.  Approximately fifteen months after becoming a free man again, Mandela was elected president of the ANC.  

"It always seems impossible until it’s done."

Mandela's negotiations with de Klerk did not end with his ANC presidency; in fact, they continued.  Not merely satisfied with ascending to the presidency of the organization he had joined in his youth, even though that would have been a story of success and overcoming in itself, Mandela sought free, open-to-all, one person-one vote elections.  It was a difficult road many times, with whites' willingness to share power and blacks wanting full power, as well as the murder of Chris Hani, the leader of the military faction of the ANC known as Umkhonto we Sizwe ("Spear of the Nation").  

Despite all this, both Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk received the Nobel Peace Price in 1993 for their working in the dismantling of apartheid in South Africa.  A little over six months after their being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the first ever free and open elections took place in South Africa, on April 27, 1994.  Mandela was elected president, with de Klerk to serve as his first deputy, and he was sworn in the following month.  Later that year, Mandela's autobiography Long Walk to Freedom, which he started while in prison, was released.  (A film of the same name is making the rounds now.)  The following year, he was presented with an honorary Order of Merit from Queen Elizabeth II. 

During his first year as president, he worked on race relations and national pride.  He sought to do this in an unusual way -- rugby.  Although the team was disliked by many, the nation's love of sports proved fertile soil to plant the seeds of mutual respect.  South Africa hosted the World Rugby Cup tournament in 1995, and its team was expected to be pushovers.  They proved everyone wrong by winning the tournament.  (An account of this can be found in the 2009 film 'Invictus'.)  In addition, he later helped secure South Africa's national economy, drafted and signed a new constitution, and created jobs, housing, and health care. 

"We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right."

Following his presidency, Mandela knew his work was not done.  He continued to support efforts to build new schools and clinics, while also writing several books about his life experiences.  While leaving public life after his presidency, it was a diagnosis of prostate cancer that changed his plans.  The cancer was treated and three years later, at eighty-five, he formally resigned from public life, returning to his native village.

Nonetheless, the spirit of doing one's life's work stayed with Mandela, and in 2007, he convened several world leaders to form what would be called The Elders, whose work would affect parts of South Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.  The list of world leaders included:
Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations
Ela Bhatt, founder of the Self-Employed Women's Association of India
Gro Harlem Brundtland, former first woman Prime Minister of Norway
Jimmy Carter, former U.S. president
Graca Machel, Mandela's wife and Mozambique politician and humanitarian
Mary Robinson, former first female president of Ireland, former U.N. High Commissioner on Human Rights
Desmond Tutu, former Anglican Archbishop in South Africa
Muhammad Yunus, Bangladeshi banker and economist, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize recipient
Li Zhaoxing, former Chinese foreign minister

The task of The Elders was to address serious issue around the world by promoting peace, promoting democracy, fighting for women's rights, responding to humanitarian crises, and promoting respect for all of humanity.  The group's work continues to this day.

After several hospital visits between 2011 and this year, Nelson Mandela died in his home in Johannesburg at the age of ninety-five.

I have, throughout this posting, posted quotes of Nelson Mandela.  At the end of this, I think one more quote of his is appropriate:

"When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country,
he can rest in peace."

Mr. Mandela, you, can undoubtedly rest in peace!

For fighting for what is right ... for standing by your convictions ... for surviving unnecessary imprisonment ... for the lack of arrogance toward your oppressors ... for the lack of smugness at your oppressors at the time of your freedom ... for ultimately rejecting revenge and embracing reform ... and for embodying compassion and grace ... you have shown us the way to live our lives.  Not only is your homeland of South Africa better because of you, but the entire world is, and will be, better off.  May we all be Rolihlahla.  

To the man who went from protestor to prisoner to president, I say rest in peace.

Terry

Word of the Day: UNHEEDED

The Native American peoples of this land have much wisdom to share.  Some of that wisdom has been heeded -- I would suggest heeded many, many, many years ago -- and some of that wisdom has been, and continues to be, unheeded.

Chief Arvol Looking Horse of the Sioux tribes addressed the United Nations last month about the perils the world faces as a result of not heeding the warnings of a people whose connection, understanding, and respect for the earth knows few peers.  I would encourage you  to take the time and read this thoughtful and insightful address in its entirety.

By the way, the mainstream really didn't bother giving this address much attention.

A Statement of Urgency from the Spiritual Peoples of the Earth

Terry

Phrases of the Day: THANKSGIVING, NEUTERED -- CHRISTMAS, FORCED -- FAMILIES, DEVALUED

I have no problem with buying presents for Christmas; it has been part of the Christmas tradition for a very long time.  I have no problem with wanting to save money; things are far too expensive to not care how much they cost.  I have no problem with going to a sale; gifts for loved ones can be bought while saving money at the same time.  I have no problem with businesses making money; you go into business to make money.  Fine?  Fine.

So, at this time of year, you might be wondering what my issue is.  My issue is what this time of year has become, or should I say how it has deteriorated. 

When I was wee young lad, turning the clocks back forty to forty-five years, this time of year was far, far different.  It was different at home and in the stores.  Some homes would have some Thanksgiving decorations and a few stores did as well.  Thanksgiving was an entity unto itself, and not just because it fell on a separate date from Christmas. 

Not that it's completely lost nowadays, but Thanksgiving had a meaning and held a meaning for people.  It was the day for family gatherings, family reunions, and, most importantly, for giving thanks for what you have.  Far more people and families back then, I dare say, took the giving thanks part seriously.  The mindset was different then, in that acknowledging what you have, regardless of how much or how little you had, was important.  It was not just a going through the motions, but an annual ritual that showed mindfulness and gratitude.

Christmas, on the other hand, was its own creature, too.  Home Christmas decorations were far more prevalent then than now.  I remember as clearly as it was yesterday my father taking me for a ride at night to go around and look at all the homes decorated for Christmas, and I know other families did that.  That, too, was a tradition for some.

Stores would slowly put up a few, just a few, Christmas decorations prior to Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.  Usually it was just strings of lights, fake snow (the kind you spray on windows and spread out on shelves and displays), and maybe artificial Christmas trees for sale.  Once that Friday arrived, however, it seemed that the decorations multiplied.  I presume folks came in or stayed over on Thanksgiving Eve, after their store closed, and finished decorating the stores.  This way, the stores would appear magical when they reopened after being closed for the holiday...and they were closed for the holiday.

Thanksgiving is probably the only non-religious holiday that's specifically meant for giving thanks.  (Well, unless you count Groundhog Day, and being thankful if the groundhog does not see his shadow, meaning an early Spring.)  Christmas is a religious holiday marking the birth of Jesus.  The thing is, aside from cognitively knowing these things, maybe, you would not recognize them anymore.

Television shows for children, such as 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer', 'Frosty the Snowman', 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town', and 'A Charlie Brown Christmas', among others, never aired before Thanksgiving. Never!  Live actions shows like Bing Crosby Christmas specials, variety show specials, and Bob Hope's entertaining the troops in Vietnam, to name a few, also aired after Thanksgiving.  They were for Christmas, and Christmas comes after Thanksgiving.  It was like that for decades and all was right with the world.  The public never complained; companies never complained.

In the past twenty years or so, and even more intensely in the past ten years, a change has been happening.  I call it the neutering of Thanksgiving and the forcing of Christmas.  When a store advertised a Thanksgiving sale, the sale was over by the end of the day on Thanksgiving Eve.  Thanksgiving was a holiday, and holidays meant something to proprietor, employee, and customer alike. 

Thanksgiving is becoming just another Christmas shopping day.  There are stores this year opening as early as 6:00 p.m., on Thanksgiving night and remaining open overnight to the end of the shopping day on Black Friday.  This is after stores were opening at 7:00 a.m., then, 5:00 a.m., then midnight on the Friday after Thanksgiving.  Christmas shopping on Thanksgiving Day has crept up from 10:00 p.m., to 8:00 p.m., and now 6:00 p.m.  How long do you think it will be before stores are open regular Thursday hours on Thanksgiving Day itself?

For several years now, a few radio stations have started playing Christmas music -- some of them playing only Christmas music -- before Thanksgiving.  That, too, never happened years ago.  This year, two stations near me began playing music around the second week of November.  I am one of those folks who really doesn't want to hear Christmas tunes until after Thanksgiving, and then I listen to them with great joy.  Television commercials with distinctive Christmas themes started airing around the same time.

Do I hate Christmas?  Absolutely not.  Granted, it doesn't hold as much significance as it did when I was much younger, but hate it?  No.  My point is that consumers and companies alike knew Christmas would get here when it got here, and decorations and sales came around in due course.

Now, Thanksgiving is just another Christmas shopping day.  (What difference does one extra day make, anyway?)  Families still gather and give thanks on Thanksgiving, but the real meaning of the day, on a broad scale, has been neutered.  The radio stations and stores that play Christmas tunes so early, since Christmas has been so commercialized, have turned those festive musical treats into clarion calls to consumerism.  That is a forcing of Christmas.

All of this is also a devaluing of the family.  Make a holiday for thanks into another work day: your family can wait.  Make the consumerism aspect of Christmas extend earlier and earlier into the year: so what if family members are out shopping or too tired to fully engage in family functions (or run the risk of getting trampled on)?

There are a few exceptions to all of this that deserve highlighting.  On the positive side, one is P.C. Richard & Son, the largest chain of privately-owned appliance and electronics stores in the United States, even with stores in only four states: Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.  This is its eighteenth year of taking out ads slamming retailers who open on Thanksgiving, citing that it is a "show [of] no respect to their employees".

Another positive example can be found in Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.  Those three states have blue laws which ban stores to be open on Thanksgiving Day.  In addition to those states and P.C. Richard & Son, five other major retailers that do not open on Thanksgiving are Burlington Coat Factory, Costco, Marshalls, Nordstrom, and TJ Maxx.  Kudos to them all.

Some get it, others do not.  A negative example is a story of a Pizza Hut general manager in Indiana who wanted to close his restaurant for Thanksgiving.  (Seriously, who thinks of Pizza Hut for Thanksgiving?  Anybody?)  His superiors told him to keep his restaurant open or leave his position.  The general manager said he was let go; a Pizza Hut representative said he quit on his own accord.  Either way, it is another example of the devaluing of the family.

The sad truth is that there will be a day when Thanksgiving is just another work week Thursday... 

...and people will be standing in line for Labor Day Christmas sales.

Terry

Phrase of the Day: ASSASSINATION OF HOPE

A sunny Friday afternoon in Dallas, Texas.  Crowds line the streets.  A presidential motorcade goes by.  Vice-President Lyndon Johnson and his wife Lady Bird Johnson sit in the third car with Texas Senator Ralph Yarborough.  Inside the first car sits the President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, his wife, Jacqueline, Texas Governor John Connally and his wife, Nellie.  

A large crowd has assembled for a luncheon at the Dallas Trade Mart, awaiting the President's arrival to give a speech.  He would never arrive to deliver that speech.  

At 12:30 p.m., local Dallas time, three shots rang out in Dealey Plaza.  It would be approximately a half-hour later that the President was officially pronounced dead, and Governor Connally wounded.  

Kennedy became the second president assassinated in the twentieth century, and the fourth president ever assassinated.  Before Kennedy, William McKinley was assassinated in 1901; James Garfield was assassinated in 1881; Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865.

Radio stations first broke the news of the shooting.  This is the first radio bulletin:

Here's how the three major television networks, NBC, CBS, and ABC, broke the news:

I'll preface this next thought by saying it is not a case of the American public getting used to assassinations, but the first three assassinations (Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley) took place within a span of thirty-six years.  The span of years between McKinley's and Kennedy's assassinations was sixty-two years.  In addition to many more failed assassination attempts, the American public was more than a couple of generations removed from such shocking news. 

As President Kennedy has been referred to as the "first television president", the television coverage brought the horror directly into peoples' homes.  No one will forget the images of the basement of the Dallas police building with the killing of Lee Harvey Oswald...

...Jackie Kennedy kneeling next to John Kennedy's coffin as he lay in state...

...and JFK, Jr., saluting his dad.

The sorrow that gripped the U.S. and even around the world resulted for a number of reasons.  One would clearly be how young and vibrant he was.  Much like those who died far too young in their lives, Kennedy's death was far too soon; he was only forty-six years old.  Another was that he was perceived as a good man, a man who wanted to change things for the better.  Another was that he challenged us to dream big and to try big.  Yet another was the promise for a better tomorrow that he represented...a promise unfulfilled.  

It's that promise unfulfilled that still lingers even today.  It is always better to look at what is and what will be than what could have been, but that could-have-been is where the sorrow lingers.  While many not-so-pleasant pieces of information about Kennedy's life has come out into the open over the successive decades, those shortcomings are unfortunate expressions of his humanity.  It is still important to remember that the potential of which I write rests solely in the doing for others.  

How different this country, and perhaps the world, would have been had he served his time in office, we will never know for certain.  Mere speculation attempts to fill that hole.  It was this event that spawned the conspiracy theory era -- remember, this occurred before the Gulf of Tonkin "event" during Johnson's administration was exposed as a hoax -- and it is an era that still exists today.  No amount of speculation will bring back John F. Kennedy, however, but the distrust remains.  It was an assassination of both a man and of hope.

One big thing that John F. Kennedy represented was hope: hope in ourselves, hope in each other, hope in our government, hope in humanity...hope that a better tomorrow was not just possible, but actually achievable.  Such hope cut short so abruptly and so violently is a huge jolt, and it might be argued that it is a jolt from which this country has not fully recovered.  

In the successive decades since Kennedy's assassination, and particularly as we have entered the twenty-first century, such expansive hope is hard to find...certainly almost impossible to find in government.  The kind of hope Kennedy embodied was not a kind of digging our way out of a hole, but of challenge and potential.  What hope we have now is the kind where we hope we get dug out of a hole.  It is a very different kind of hope...from empowerment to angry wistfulness.

Certainly, it is not the hope Kennedy wanted instilled in us all.

Terry