President Kennedy Has Been Shot
I said to myself ... this is not a survivable wound.
- Dr. Robert Grossman
My very first memory is from 11.22.63. I was three years old, and I can clearly recall being parked on my butt in front of a television. The camera was focused on Parkland Hospital in Dallas. Of course, at the time I had no clue as to what was transpiring, and it was only many years later that I came to understand the significance of that moment in time.
I'm not sure why that memory is so vivid, because I can recall only one fleeting image of our family's car between 11.22.63 and when I was seven. We drove to Chicago for my grandmother's funeral and I remember something about cats throwing up in the back of a station wagon. It's probably best not to revisit that just now....
Given that JFK was assassinated very publicly, and that his last name was Kennedy, his life and death have assumed mythic proportions. For someone who was at best a mediocre and not overly intellectually gifted President, the myth has far eclipsed the reality. One could argue that the true beginnings of the family legend can be laid to 11.22.63.
Forty years later, and we as a nation are still captivated by all things Kennedy. Perhaps if JFK had survived his term as President, he would have ended up a parody of himself as Ted Kennedy has. Sadly, we are left only to wonder what might have been. All I can say for certain is that 40 years ago, I was a whole lot younger...as were we all.