The day that really changed everything....

On November 22, 1963, the entire student body of Theodore Roosevelt Junior High School in Port Angeles, Washington, was summoned to the school auditorium. Though we weren't told why, there was a great deal of apprehension in all of our minds in those days of air raid drills and missle crises. None of us, though, imagined the news that would be delivered by the principal that day. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the President of the United States, had been shot.

A short time later, it was announced that the President was dead, and school was dismissed. For me, the single most lasting impression of that day came while I was walking up Lincoln Avenue on my way home. About halfway between school and home was a shop with a window full of television sets for sale, and the sidewalk in front of that shop was crowded with adults, watching the news through the window and openly weeping. The sight of mill workers and longshoremen shedding public tears on a city street was almost as unimaginable as the idea of President Kennedy being dead in Dallas.

There have been any number of tragic events in the intervening years, but for those of us who remember, I don't think any has had as deep an impact, except for those personally touched by later events. The impact on our society at large, both socially and politically, is incalculable.

The normal blather and bashing will be back tomorrow. Today is a day for reverance and rememberance.

Peace.