Listening to the rah-rah attitude on inauguration day I was filled with an optimism I hadn't felt since before John Lennon died. Wait. Maybe not even then. Maybe that feeling goes all the way back to the optimism of the Kennedy presidency. I was 8 years old in 1963, that magic time before America's optimism was dashed by an assassin. I remember the intense sorrow felt by my parents and teachers, all the tears.
Amazingly, CBS Morning News first reported about Beatlemania on the morning of the day Kennedy was shot. A month after the assassination the Beatles scored their first #1 hit, 'I Want To Hold Your Hand,' and I was one of 74 million people on February 9 who watched the Beatles perform live on The Ed Sullivan Show. Were you?
As I got older I looked forward to each of John Lennon's solo releases. When he was murdered a part of me was murdered. "They" say that the day Buddy Holly died was the day the music died, but I have listened carefully to all of Buddy Holly's songs and John Lennon blows Buddy Holly out of the water (whatever that means). I've always felt that December 8, 1980, was the day I lost my faith in humanity, the day the music truly died. However, after watching Obama's inauguration, I'm grokking that I may have lost my faith way back in 1963.
Congratulations, President "No Drama" Obama, for making it all the way to the White House. I'm not sure how I feel about you risking the lives of your family to get there (and stay there) but I am glad that America finally has a truly intelligent president, ala Lincoln. Perhaps sanity will return to America. Perhaps the wars will end. Perhaps America will truly become again the home of the brave.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment