November 27, 2008
On This Day…
…I want to share a post I wrote for BlogHer, last Thanksgiving (which also happened to be the anniversary of JFK’s assassination), November 22, 2007 (the post below has been edited for content):
In eleven hours, my mother will be scrambling around the kitchen, checking the turkey, mashing the potatoes and refusing all offers of help from everyone. “Go sit down,” she’ll say. “Have a drink! It’s Thanksgiving!”
My father will lock himself in the basement with my brothers, my husband and my uncles, never to be seen until the Green Bay Packers kick the tar out of the Detroit Lions. Not a moment of this football game can be missed! The consequences for speaking while the Almighty Brett Favre is working his offensive magic are not to be taken lightly.
My sister and I will adorn the dining table with Mom’s best holiday tablecloth. The vibrant hues of red, orange, gold and brown coordinate with the beautiful autumn centerpiece at the center of the table, the one we put out every year; and the cornucopia will make it’s home on the antique hutch my mother inherited when Grandma Alice passed away.
This holiday will be nothing like the traditional celebrations I remember from my childhood. We would gather at Great Aunt Hannah’s house each year because she always cooked the biggest bird, her refrigerator never ran out of Point beer, and she had the longest dining table, suitable for many rounds of pinochle and poker, as well as feasting on turkey with the trimmings.
While Aunt Hannah and Grandma were commandeering the kitchen and fretting over the turkey, the men of the house were seated at the table playing pinochle and arguing about politics and religion. One would think that family feuds were plenty given the topic of conversation, but surprisingly everyone was amicable. Fighting only occurred if Uncle Eddie swept away the pot after a game of Seven-card stud, or if cousin Shawn had too many whiskey-sours and belted out the chorus to every Abba song she knew.
I can still hear their voices, husky from smoking cigars and Marlboro Reds, discussing President Ronald Reagan and the failing 1980s economy, President Richard Nixon and Watergate, and of course, the tragic assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
I couldn’t have been more than five years old, but oh, how I remember! My father’s powerful voice filled the room as he spoke of the alleged conspiracy hatched by Lyndon B. Johnson and Gerald Ford. The theories thrown across the table were endless, and thinking about it today reminds me of “the telephone game”. The story changed with each passing around the Thanksgiving table.
But Grandma Alice spoke of JFK so brilliantly. She reminisced about the day the first Catholic president was elected into office. She loved President Kennedy as if he were akin to her. She often referred to him as her president and felt that no one had more charm and charisma, or more power, than JFK. Her gray eyes lit up with pride as she exclaimed, “If anyone can, Kennedy can!” She said the words as though she was hearing that slogan for the first time.
Soon Grandma’s eyes reflected sadness and grief as she relived the feelings of terror while listening to Walter Cronkite’s newscast. “Three shots were fired at President Kennedy’s motorcade in downtown Dallas.” She remembered that she was watching one of her programs, the soap opera “As the World Turns”, as she heard the fateful words. She remembered feeling sick to her stomach, sobbing for hours, and praying the rosary.
Those same beautiful gray eyes filled with tears, and her voice faltered, as she recalled Jacqueline Kennedy’s later appearance on television, her clothing stained with her husband’s blood, as she walked slowly to a car to be taken away from Parkland Hospital.
This Thanksgiving, I find myself thinking about JFK and imagining what the remaining term of his presidency would have been like, had he lived to fulfill it. If the events of November 22, 1963 never occurred, would our country be in a better position today? Would it be worse?
Today, I must pause to remember the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy. A man who said, “So, let us not be blind to our differences – but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved.”
And I will pause to remember his words because later today, my family will be discussing politics and religion, “the left” and “the right”, Nixon, Ford and Reagan, and giving thanks for the blessings in our lives.
I guess it will be a traditional Thanksgiving after all.
———-
That’s one of my favorite posts I’ve ever written. Each time I go back and read it, I remember to be thankful. Thankful to be alive. Thankful that I live in America. Thankful for so many wonderful things in my life.
I remembered that post last night, as I watched Barbara Walters interview President-elect Barack Obama, and his wife Michelle. I sat in my living room, eyes glued to the television as Walters asked questions about Obama’s plan to fix our broken economy and how they are handling the transition to becoming First Family.
It’s difficult for me to describe the emotions I felt as I listened to Michelle and Barack talk about their family and their hopes for the future of our country. At one point my eyes filled with tears because I realized how much I like them. I really like Barack and Michelle Obama.
I know. I’m a Catholic Republican. I’m not supposed to care for Barack Obama because he’s a Democrat. I’m not supposed to like him because a liberal. According to the Conservative Doctrine, it would be wrong for me to agree with anything that President-elect Obama says. I’m breaking every rule of the right wing.
Okay, yes, I’m being sarcastic. I’m sure you know this.
It’s just that I’m tired of living in a divided country. I’m tired of the bickering between the left and the right. Or is it the right and the left? I’m sick to death of reading blogs in which one side slams the other, or makes offensive jokes about the opposing political party.
Enough is enough.
I believe in my heart that I can be true to myself and my political values and still embrace our next president whole-heartedly. Barack Obama needs the support of the American people. Whether we are Democrat or Republican, Liberal or Conservative, we need to work together to fix the problems we have created.
I’m ready to make the first step. But I need to ask a favor from a few of you. You know who you are. Stop bashing the Conservatives. Stop slamming the Republicans. It’s getting old. It’s offensive. I read your words, begging Americans to put aside their differences, to meet on common ground –and then you go and verbally attack us, bitch-slap us, and expect us to sit back and take it.
Enough is enough.
JFK said it best: “So, let us not be blind to our differences – but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved.”
I’m ready. Are you?
