On this day in 1963, at about the time I’m typing this, recess was over for the younger kids at John J. Audubon elementary school. I found myself climbing back up the stairs to my third grade classroom when I overheard an older boy coming down the stairs for their recess time. He was telling his friend, “did you hear, they shot the president.”
My parents being civic and interested in the politics and world affairs, plus proud Democrats, we knew all about our President. For my sibs, along with millions of other Americans back then, the Kennedy’s were like distant relatives, meaning it was personal - and the words were like a punch in the belly. Reinforced by our sad struggling teacher explaining what was being broadcast on the news and informed us school was over for that day and that we should go home to our families. We left school and all of us walked back home to be with our parents.
Arriving home mom was heart broken but had three kids to deal with first and foremost, and it was far from her first heart wrenching tragedy, so no hysterics. Simply a profound sadness and somber rest of the day. We had no TV in those days and the next morning we drove to our grandparents, an hours drive outta Chicago in Carol Stream. There we spent the next days glued to the TV, we kids didn’t feel like playing outside, there was this profound depressing national tragedy happening and we needed to be part of it, along with our parents and grandparents.
And now on November 22, 2024, I stand here reeling from the understanding that We The People lost our government on election day this year. Victim to decades of obsessive planning and strategizing and brainwashing built around an apparently convincing card house of lies.
Now, the future belongs to the lawless and the ruthless. I've no clue how it will play out, but come on, hand our government over to people full of hatred, not to mention criminals and sword enemies of our USA government and the principles of pluralism and free speech and Fair Play that it is founded on, what can we hope for?
. . . and now, we’ll also get to see just how bad ignoring the reality of Man Made Global Warming, and the extreme weather events it inevitably creates, can get. Not to mention the host of other problems.
Who’s going to tell them no to anything they want?
I was on a walk with my Maddy dog and couldn’t help but reflect on this day, then and now, and all the bad choices we have made - some will proclaim this was inevitable, masses of people need dictators.
I myself think all this could have gone down differently if only we had been willing to slow down expectations, and to also start critically examining our self-absorbed, self-serving nature, because it was going to destroy society if not harnessed a little.
… and to start letting in Evolutionary and Earth systems awareness and concern, because it needed to get under the skin, as it has with me, instead it remained a superficial aside for most leaders and followers and consumers.
Remember, these were the years that humanity’s situation was finally made clear through solid observational and empirical evidence.
It was also made clear that if we continued with our balls-to-the wall attitude, we'd quite probably destroy today's biosphere, and human habitability, before the end of the 21st century. At our current rate, it's looking like we'll be luck to make it to mid century. It's hideous, but there it is.
But, if we continued with our balls-to-the wall attitude, we’d quite probably destroy today’s biosphere, and human habitability, before the end of the 21st century.
Yes it was and remains that extreme and clear! Like a large star, more fuel, burns up hotter and faster - a smaller star with less fuel lives longer.
What happened was that rather than reaching for science and better understanding - the $$$ megaphone that be turned “Environment” into an enemy and Science into their laughing stock - and We The People didn’t object.
Why?
Is it worth even wondering about?
Taking it slower - required masses of good-faith curiosity and starting to learn to appreciate our Earth, via Earth sciences, enough to where it became personal, and that helping conserve and nurture nature (landscapes, resources, biosphere, global heat and moisture distribution engine, etc) would become self evident and second nature.
None of that happened, not even close. Reagan and his deep pocket bosses made sure of that. And most everyone was okay with that.
Greed Is Good was embraced with gusto, and here we are ushering what will truly be a dysfunctional future, given the people we’ve put in charge.
Why should we not examine and second guess what went wrong with our thinking and philosophies that enabled such destructive short sightedness?
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Oh dear, this was supposed to be a hat/tip to President John F. Kennedy and a sweet bit of nostalgia, a light hearted aside and homage to those earlier days, when the world still retained a good deal of potential and options, and wasn’t quite so battered with us behaving, well, … self-cannibalizing, as it has become since that then.
Vaughn Meader really cemented our (the young and old and in-between, and across the entire globe) natural affection with his wonderful Kennedy Family LP album. It’s silly and in truth I couldn’t listen through all of it anymore, though a cut or two is always worth some smiles and tears. As they say it's history worth remembering, with President Kennedy and his loss remaining profoundly vivid in my mind.
The First Family
YouTube channel Jason1920
The classic 1962 LP in full. Enjoy!
(Tracks and times courtesy of YouTube user Robert Moore.)
Act I
00:00 Scene 1. The Experiment
00:43 Scene 2. After Dinner Conversations
05:51 Scene 3. The Malayan Ambassador
06:50 Scene 4. Relatively Speaking
07:29 Scene 5. Astronauts
08:29 Scene 6. Motorcade
09:18 Scene 7. The Party
10:04 Scene 8. The Tour
Act II
16:44 Scene 1. But Vote!!
17:06 Scene 2. Economy Lunch
22:23 Scene 3. The Decision
23:43 Scene 4. White House Visitor
24:41 Scene 5. Press Conference
27:18 Scene 6. The Dress
28:26 Scene 7. Saturday Night, Sunday Morning
32:45 Scene 8. Auld Lang Syne
34:05 Scene 9. Bedtime Story
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