Two Readers Share Memories of 11/22/63

(I'm sharing comments received from a pair of faithful readers.  The first one is, obviously, from Buster's sister)
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Thank you Buster, very interesting....I never thought to ask you what your perspective was about 11/22/63.  I was 5, on the cusp of turning 6.  The first thing I recall is you storming into the house in tears.  I was completely unaware of the big news of the day, and just thought it was weird that you were home early on a Friday, and were unhappy about it.  We must have had 1/2 day kindergarten then, because I was definitely at home when you came in. 

I remember that you (I thought it was you and Dad together) got to see some guy get shot right on TV.  I was sort of jealous, because you had a cool story to tell.  I also remember being called in to watch segments of the funeral....none of which I understood.  I just liked the horses. 

So glad you're older than me, and can explain what happened in my life in my first 10 years...my memories are fuzzy. 

My son Joe was born on the 25th anniversary of JFK’s death.  Since it was a planned C-section, there was a chatty atmosphere in the delivery room.  We all went around the table (doctors, nurses, and the pregnant patient) and recalled what we'd been doing 25 years ago. 

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I was a very young first year teacher, teaching 30 sixth grade children at a local elementary school. The "little kids" were having their afternoon recess, and the "big kids" in my room were busy with Social Studies.  The principal came to me and "gave me the news". 

Told the kids that something terrible had happened, and the President had been shot in Dallas.  I quickly grabbed one of the TV's and rolled it into the room for the kids to watch. The kids were shocked, scared, in tears, hurt, angry.  They were experiencing the same range of emotion that their teachers were experiencing.  The classroom had an eerie silence about it, completely void of the "busy hum" always noticeable with an engaged group of students.

We took time to talk and express our "worrys and feelings".  We all asked a lot of questions and didn't have a lot of very good answers.  At one point, I recall the principal being nearby when a sixth grade boy, I can't remember whose class, expressed his satisfaction with the assassination by saying "Good!"  Someone told the principal, (also in her first year at the school and her first year as principal of a school) and she went after that kid, dragged him into a very wide hallway, and went at him like nothing I have seen since Sister Julie Alouise tore into one of the 7th graders when he took a Communion out of his mouth and was proudly displaying it to the girls back in the classroom after Mass.

Dallas was, and remains, a hotbed of hatred and bigotry. H. Lamar Hunt was spending his millions to spread lies and hatred across the United States. The only difference was these bigots and hate mongers were Democrats at the time.  Today they are Tea Party Republicans, and regardless of label, nothing has changed. The DNA remains unaltered, and is being used by a political party who bears little or no shame, as long as they win.