Profiles in courage - our turn

For those who witnessed, and yes for those born soon after, the assassination of President Kennedy did much to shape - if not define - a generation of America. Growing up outside Boston in the 70's, in what I've always called "Kennedy's Massachusetts", the impact of that event loomed large, as the nostalgia for the Kennedy mystique deepened further. Profiles in Courage and PT 109 were frequent choices on our reading lists in school. I was nearly bar mitzvah before realizing that Camelot was actually a play about some guy named Arthur...

Now here we are, 53 years following that fateful day. It is all too clear that the issues that troubled us then - world peace, economic disparity, racial divides, religious intolerance, the need for greater social justice - are still as significant today. Certainly some of the details and players have changed: Cold War alliances have given way to concerns about global terrorism; the struggle for civil rights now includes the strides we are making for our LGBT brothers and sisters; our social welfare efforts concern not only addressing poverty - they are also needed to fulfill our responsibility to an ever-increasing aging population as we've never known before. Most significantly, these are not "global" issues - as in they fester in far-off places well removed from us in our daily lives. Rather, these are imminent problems, poisoning our very American society, fostered by domestic players. 

And there is still hope that we can live up to our promise to become a better world. Looking at our situation today or during the Kennedy era (or any other point in time you choose) is but a momentary snapshot of the human condition. We need to involve a longer view of our history to sustain such hope. Consider this: this week we also marked the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, that powerful, articulate vision that Lincoln delivered during a particularly bleak and vulnerable time for our nation. Fast forward 100 years. It is following the Kennedy assassination that we truly begin the repair and resolve the issues that had torn the country apart through civil war. The Civil Rights act, the Voting Rights act, enabled in the mid 60s, we're predicated by earlier voices, Lincoln's included.

We still have much to do, much farther to go to bring about the just society that has been hinted at in every generation. It starts right now, by standing up to the emerging neo-Nazi element in our very midst. On this sacred memorial, let us recommit ourselves to partnership with all of our fellow human beings in working toward that day.