Not as senior as you, but I grew up as a child feeling the ambient attitude that there was God in heaven, and right below him was the President of the United States, the greatest man on earth. JFK had been recently assassinated and we learned about him like he was a martyred saint.
I was in early adulthood, I think, when it began to come …
Not as senior as you, but I grew up as a child feeling the ambient attitude that there was God in heaven, and right below him was the President of the United States, the greatest man on earth. JFK had been recently assassinated and we learned about him like he was a martyred saint.
I was in early adulthood, I think, when it began to come out what a philandering serial adulterer he was, how little he actually accomplished during his half-term, and it almost broke my heart. I knew Nixon had been a crook, and was becoming aware of what corrupt liar LBJ had been, but John F. Kennedy? Since then I've become so disillusioned that I could mourn for the 1950s-60s child I was, so idealistic and innocent, with statesmen who actually behaved like statesmen most of the time.
My perception is somewhat different. I revered JFK. He did a lot in what you define as his "half-term". Each of us is flawed. But not all of us are crooks and liars. As to your idealism, hold onto it. The strength of our idealism helps us to get through "all of this". Innocence, naivete and being gullible in some crude fashion shield us. My mother would chide me from time to time for being so gullible. I took the world at first glance, often trusting people at face value only to later learn I had been duped. As to those "statesmen", I can lean on Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama. Bush #1 garnered my respect and admiration, but Dumbya (Bush #2) was a disgrace. Looking across the worldscape, I see where we are sorely misguided and misdirected. We, the whites, are more concerned about the private sex lives of others. We dislike people because of their skin color or their country of origin. Or, their religion. Our self-proclaimed "Christians' are anything but Christian. (I am an ordained theologian.) The current occupant of the White House is a cruel and amoral traitor celebrated by fools and evangelicals. The people have yet to realize the suffering we may be in for. Your disillusionment is understandable. But do not allow that to also be your disappointment.
Not as senior as you, but I grew up as a child feeling the ambient attitude that there was God in heaven, and right below him was the President of the United States, the greatest man on earth. JFK had been recently assassinated and we learned about him like he was a martyred saint.
I was in early adulthood, I think, when it began to come out what a philandering serial adulterer he was, how little he actually accomplished during his half-term, and it almost broke my heart. I knew Nixon had been a crook, and was becoming aware of what corrupt liar LBJ had been, but John F. Kennedy? Since then I've become so disillusioned that I could mourn for the 1950s-60s child I was, so idealistic and innocent, with statesmen who actually behaved like statesmen most of the time.
My perception is somewhat different. I revered JFK. He did a lot in what you define as his "half-term". Each of us is flawed. But not all of us are crooks and liars. As to your idealism, hold onto it. The strength of our idealism helps us to get through "all of this". Innocence, naivete and being gullible in some crude fashion shield us. My mother would chide me from time to time for being so gullible. I took the world at first glance, often trusting people at face value only to later learn I had been duped. As to those "statesmen", I can lean on Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama. Bush #1 garnered my respect and admiration, but Dumbya (Bush #2) was a disgrace. Looking across the worldscape, I see where we are sorely misguided and misdirected. We, the whites, are more concerned about the private sex lives of others. We dislike people because of their skin color or their country of origin. Or, their religion. Our self-proclaimed "Christians' are anything but Christian. (I am an ordained theologian.) The current occupant of the White House is a cruel and amoral traitor celebrated by fools and evangelicals. The people have yet to realize the suffering we may be in for. Your disillusionment is understandable. But do not allow that to also be your disappointment.