To the editor:
November 22, 1963, is a day that people my age and older remember well, and sadly will never forget. I don’t care to watch the motorcade driving through Dallas anymore, listen to the conspiracy theories or hear talk about the blood-stained pink dress. I still get that sick feeling in my stomach when I see the reruns.
Like most, I can recall exactly where I was when I heard the news; I can still feel the sadness and despair that was everywhere. A black cloud hung over the nation that day, and everyone seemed to be affected.
Fifty years later, we again have a young, intelligent Democratic president, but that is where the similarities end. We all remember President Kennedy’s famous inaugural address, when he said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country.”
We now have a president that seems to be saying, your country owes you. Just ask, but remember, we expect your vote in exchange.
That day in 1963 along with 9-11 are etched in my mind as national tragedies, and for a lot of us, there is one more, Nov. 6, 2012. When President Kennedy was killed, I thought, how could one man do something that affects a whole nation so profoundly?
And when President Obama was re-elected in 2012, I thought, how is it that millions of people would do something that affects a whole nation so profoundly? I didn’t understand it then, and I don’t understand it now.
There is no doubt in my mind that one day we will have a great black president, someone that we can respect, admire and trust, but from all that has happened in the last five years, it is quite apparently that day is not yet here.
Roger Majeski, Freeport