I’m back on line after a wonderful three
week vacation in the U.S. These are halcyon days in
America with employment and income high and the
generally lovely summer weather re-enforcing the taste
of peaches and cream. Our summer sun shone over us as
we enjoyed the lakes of Minneapolis, the fertile farm
acreage of Illinois and Indiana, the rolling hills and
mountains of the Blue Ridge region, the flatter
greenlands of North Carolina, and the brilliantly lit
landscapes of Nevada and California.
And yet July brought us more than summer salad
days. Our visit to Illinois and Indiana corresponded
with the early July murder spree of white racist
Benjamin Smith, a 2l year old university student who
July 3-5 conducted a rampage of violence in the very
places of Chicago, Urbana and Bloomington where we
were visiting. Americans may enjoy a serial killer in
the summer movies but not one who is haunting your
vacation sites.
The tragic deaths of JFK JR. and his wife and
sister-in-law shadowed our final days of vacation. My
second vote for U.S. President was cast for his father
in l960. I heard the elder Kennedy speak in Harlem
during his successful campaign and travelled from
seminary to the capital for his memorable
inauguration.
Despite the limited record he accomplished in his
brief tenure and notwithstanding the subsequent
disclosures of his often cynical and reckless private
life, I experienced President Kennedy as a remarkable
public leader who inspired my generation of young
Americans in a sense of citizenship and public service
which began to evaporate from the public forum not
long after his death.
Like probably some millions of my country men and
women I had entertained the romantic thought that his
equally charismatic son, JFK JR. might eventually seek
public office, and give us the opportunity to affirm a
glorious closure to the frustrated romance and promise
of America’s political "Camelot." Sadly, human
error has denied that closure.
In his death we have learned much about the younger
Kennedy which he purposefully did not want us to know
about him. How he played down his celebrity status in
pursuit of his own pilgrimage in selfhood and how he
used his fame and money privately to do good. Only
because his death now permits them to disclosure do we
learn of his many benefactions. He appears to have
been a fine example of that class of patrician
citizen, who have always brought blessings to their
societies.
For me and many in America the final days of July
l999 brought tears at these untimely deaths. It was
like losing a member of our own families.
Pastor Gene Preston