Day 22 – The Chance to Make a Difference
Day 22 of 30 Days of Thanks
The Chance to Make a Difference
If you turned on the news today even for a short time you know that 50 years ago today President Kennedy was shot.
I was seven years old but this is what I remember.
1. Watching the news on my parent’s black and white television and feeling scared because so many people were crying.
2. The conversations that swirled around me about his death, his killer and Lyndon B. Johnson, the vice-president who replaced him.
3. Newspapers, magazines, and pictures of the fallen President.
4. Reasoning in my child brain that if someone like the President could die, then probably my parents could too. In my mind they were even more important than he was.
5. Being scared.
Today as I was driving I listened to the radio and the newscaster was talking about President Kennedy’s death. Just listening to radio clips from that day took me back in time. I had cold chills the entire time he was talking. I listened as he replayed the tape of Walter Cronkite as he broke the sad news to the country that the President was dead.
50 years ago that news made me sad and it did so again today.
We all get a limited amount of time on earth and each of us has a chance to make a difference. What we do with our chance is up to us.
As our youngest President ever, President Kennedy didn’t get very long. 50 years later the nation is still wondering would have happened had he had the chance to inspire and lead us a little bit longer.
Thank you Lord for the chance to make a difference. Help us to use our time wisely!
I agree. Thanks for commenting!
Upon such events the history of the world turns. . . . I was a senior in high school when Kennedy was shot. After the assassination, I remember feeling unsure about the leadership of Lyndon B. Johnson, but in my opinion he turned out to be a capable and courageous leader. Somewhat flawed, too, but so was LBJ.