the time she voted for the current waste of time and space. But that is neither here nor there. I recall when JFK was shot in Dallas. A TV was brought into the classroom, and we all got the news, as it was being reported. We were kept in school while parents were notified the school would be closing early. When released, my brother and I, as well as several others waited for the City bus that would take us close to home. It was the first, (and only), time in my life when NYC was silent, save for the sobs of a few that could not believe that they were now a part of history.

We watched in horror when Oswald was murdered, we wept when the cortege went down Pennsylvania Avenue and into Arlington. We felt a moment of pride and awe when John Jr stepped out and gave the final salute to his father. We knew things would not be the same.

When MLK was assassinated, I drew in a deep breath, a man I had grown to admire had been taken from us, and I knew the nation would become a tinderbox. RFK called for a time of mourning, and in one city, the flames did not ignite, such was the power of one man's voice in the dark.

When RFK was murdered, the shock was almost as much as when his brother had been gunned down some 4 and a half years earlier. To see Rosie Grier with tears in his eyes was something I shall never forget.

Gerald Ford, the attempts on his life rekindled the emotions of years past...Ronald Reagan as well, even though I despised Reagan as president, I did not wish any harm upon him.

George Wallace, no love lost between he and I, but the attempt on his life was unwarranted.

My point in all of this, and the reason I brought my mother in as a staunch R, is that regardless of party, regardless of where one stands on the political field, no sane person wishes death or harm upon another. My mother cried because a president was killed, not a D or an R, but just an American president, and it should never have happened. My mother was torn when MLK and JFK were shot, they were Americans, doing what Americans do...try to make the country a better place for all.

Things like these incidents are personal for me as well, and they should be for all Americans, regardless of party, religion or anything else that "separates" us. For a candidate to be "flippant" about such things crosses a line that should never be crossed. The scars run deep, the pain is real, and people like that man in your dad's barbershop are little more than fools riding on delusion. We all suffer when leaders and potential leaders are taken from our midst. Kennedy may well have been a "son-of-a-bitch", but he was OUR "son-of-a-bitch". On April 14, 1865 a man who was passing by Ford's Theater asked what had happened, and when told of Lincoln's being shot, he bellowed out in glee...he was nearly beaten to death in the street, and the DC police barely saved his life. The man in your dad's shop got off lightly, for if times were different, he most likely would have met the same fate.