"Just Thinking Out Loud!"

As anyone who has stopped to read my at my blog or web site knows I am not a great writer. I cannot use words like a painter uses a brush and colors to create a beautiful picture or like a great musician uses an instrument to give life to music written on a score. My words are ordinary, mundane and imperfect. They are not elegant or masterfully crafted. You might say when I write I paint stick figures and create predictable sounds.

Yet on this anniversary of President Kennedy’s death I would like to share a few thoughts with you. They might not come out with power or be able to hold your attend for long and they certainly will not be Pulitzer Prize musings but they are from my heart.

These are the thoughts about today yet they stretch back some fifty one years. These are thoughts about our nation, about us and perhaps what we learned and what we have forgot over the past fifty one years.

Today as a nation we recall a tragedy that took place fifty one year ago. It is the Fifty-First Anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy. I was just ten years old and I remember the day very well. The most vivid image I have is returning home from school to find the TV repair man trying to fix our TV and my mother ironing cloths in the kitchen crying. I would guess at age ten I did not truly understand the magnitude of the events of that day but I certainly do today!

Fifty years ago our nation had a profound sadness, whether you were a republican, democrat, independent or whatever this day brought great sadness. We were one on this day fifty one years ago. Our dreams and hopes of a new way of life were crushed by an assassin’s bullet. President Kennedy had given us a vision, a hope. It was going to be a long journey and there were many obstacles in the way but we had hope. There were struggles, disagreements, challenges and opposite sides but we had hope. To many it might have seemed like a fairy tale, but we had hope. There were republicans, democrats, independents, conservatives, liberals, progressives, traditionalist, but we had hope!

However, it is my feeling that today hope is often hard to find. We have wandered very far from what this day meant fifty one years ago. As I journey through the land of the technology, television, the Internet, Facebook, Twitter, to name just a few I often have a profound sadness. We are now a nation divided, angry and profoundly disrespectful. We would prefer to tear down then to build up. We would prefer to be against than to find a way to be united. We would prefer to ridicule rather than honor. We want it only our way and have no use for what others think unless they think like us. We often use the technology we have to make fun of, criticize, bully, degrade and be negative rather than find common ground and grow. Today we have republicans, democrats, independents, conservatives, liberals, progressives, traditionalist, tea partiers and little cause to hope!

I wonder if President Obama where to assassinated would the nation be one? Would we grieve, would we mourn, would we come together? Sadly, I think not! The prejudice, negativity and hate that consumes us at time as a nation continues to be fed and fortified with every Tweet, Facebook posting, Instagram cartoon and 24 for hour news channel. We are a nation divided, angry and selfish. We are a nation were hate and prejudice has become the norm. We are a nation that has lost our focus, our respect, as a people of faith, as people united, as people working for a better world, as a people of hope.

Might we pause for a moment in the midst of this anniversary to consider what we value, to consider what is important and perhaps just for a day not bash one another, not degrade one another, not disrespect one another. Say something good about another person on Facebook today. Say something good about another person on Twitter today. Say something good about the President today on Facebook and Twitter or any place else today. Say something good about our nation and the people in it no matter where and how they have come to this land!

Let us remember what we lost fifty one years ago. Let us remember what made us sad; what made us one, fifty one years ago today. Let us be dedicated to honor, respect, vision, life, faith and all that can be good when people listen, talk and think beyond just themselves. Let us find hope once again!