Watching Previews of "Bobby" and Memories of a HORRIBLE Summer of 1968.

MarianJack

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Sun Nov-26-06 05:35 PM
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Watching Previews of "Bobby" and Memories of a HORRIBLE Summer of 1968.

I've never seen the movie "JFK". My feelings were somewhat like John F Kennedy jr's. For me, it could never be entertainment.

I will see "Bobby". To me, it is no more entertainment than "JFK", but my wife wants to see it, and I can't argue that it appears to be a good movie. Even an idiot like rush limpballs would nave to admit it has a wonderful cast. I will see it because my wife, the lovely and infrequently posting ChicaAzul, wants to see it. My wife is 8+ years younger than I, didn't grow up in a political family and is deservedly proud of her Puerto Rican culture.

And she was a baby when President Kennedy was assassinated. She was in Kindergarten when Bobby was killed. I was 8 & 13. She didn't experience it the way I did. I know that many did not, so I will appreciate your indulgence while I try to explain my experience. Maybe I speak for some others here.

America, and the world, were different back then. In 1968, in my world, Dr. Doom, Lex Luthor & Red Skull were evil. We trusted Presidents, even if we didn't want them to win again. The assassination of JFK was an tragic aberration. Bobby was going to be president and finish his brother's mission. Bobby was going to pick up the torch that had been passed to the new generation. He would get us out of Vietnam, make Civil Rights a reality, help the average American (rich or poor or black or white) reach the New Frontier and be one of the greatest presidents ever.

In my then 13 year old memory, there were 2 major American cities that had no unrest when Martin Luther King was shot. Philadelphia, in the midst of frank rizzo's reign of terror as police commissioner, and Indianapolis, where Bobby Kennedy went to the African American Community and talked with them like they were human beings, fellow Americans and people who had suffered a devastating loss of a beloved leader. He spoke with compassion, love and tenderness (in spite of his reputation for being "ruthless").

A mere 2 months later, on the night of one of his greatest political triumphs, moments after saying "...on to Chicago and lets win there!", after I went to bed, my father came and woke me up. He said "Somebody just shot Bobby". That was in the early AM of June 5, 1968. After 24 ours of hope, desperation and sadness, I woke up on June 6, 1968 and asked my mother how Bobby was. She told me that he'd passed away, and I felt like I was walking through jello for the next week and was never in more than a slightly alert daze. I was at the side of the railway for the train carrying Bobby from New York to Arlington. I waved to Ethel and the kids when the train went by.

Worst of all, in November, richard nixon was elected president.

JFK, MLK & RFK were all dead and tricky dick was in the white house.

Today, I know that Bobby had his shortcomings. I know that his nomination was not a certainty, given that most of the delegates had been preselected for the purpose of re-nominating LBJ and would have probably voted for Hubert Humphrey. But I still hold Bobby very close to my heart. He was the first candidate I worked for. He was the first presidential candidate I shook hands with and spoke to. He was the one who made me believe that I could have an effect on the course of my country.

As I said earlier, I was 8 when President Kennedy died and 13 when Bobby did. I believe that for me, Bobby's loss was the bigger loss. To this day, I can't listen to "Abraham, Martin and John" without a huge lump in my throat.

And so, I will go to see "Bobby" because my wife wants to. I will almost certainly leave the theater in tears. They will be the genuine tears of a horrible loss for myself and my country, not the phony manipulated tears I saw from air-headed yupsters when "Forest Gump" came out.

And I will always mourn for what we might have had, as opposed to what we did have. Thats my perspective, perhaps not as eloquent as others, not even as eloquent as I can be. I'm writing on emotion. Thanks for reading and any comments.

Unless, of course you're a lurking freeper, in which case you can bite my ass. My insurance covers penicillin.

PEACE!