This week, I will be attending my 60th high school reunion from Ferndale High School. While most of my classmates have experienced a relatively good life, our time has been constantly rocked by violence and assassinations.
Later I will be presenting my thoughts on why violence is so prevalent in the USA, but first I’d like to review the many times the ugly face of violence toward our leaders has disrupted our world and made us cynical, despondent, and susceptible to conspiracy theories.
In November 1963, a few months before our graduation, we were in our classrooms when the news came over the loudspeaker that President Kennedy had been shot in Dallas. A few minutes later, we learned that he was dead. No matter whether we were Republicans or Democrats, we all streamed out of the high school in a state of shock, many of us crying. For the next several days, we grieved collectively. On the Sunday after his death on a Friday, we witnessed live on TV the assassination of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby.
60 years later, we are still confused about whether Oswald was the sole killer or whether there was a group of people who participated. Who were they and why were they intent on killing President Kennedy, who was a hero to many of us? Who was Jack Ruby, and why would he kill Oswald?
Four years later, many of us were in college or just beginning our work careers when we heard another awful news report: Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated in Memphis. Many of us were deeply involved in the civil rights movement, which Dr. King had led. Once again, we witnessed the somber funeral of one of our heroes. Once again, why he was killed remains a mystery.
A few short months later, President Lyndon Johnson decided not to run for reelection. The loss of so many lives in Vietnam had cost him great consternation, which led to his withdrawal from the campaign. Those of us on the liberal side once again engaged in an emotionally charged effort to nominate Robert Kennedy, Jack’s younger brother, for president. In June 1968, we awoke to more shocking news: Robert Kennedy had also been assassinated at a political rally. His killer is still in jail, and we once again do not know why one of our heroes was assassinated.
It was not just our leaders who were targets of assassination. Riots and wars undermined our faith in society. For example, in 1967, on a beautiful summer Sunday morning, we awoke to the news that our hometown, Detroit, was engulfed in a riot. Many of the neighborhoods were on fire. As rumors spread, as they will do during times of extreme violence, we were thought to be on the cusp of a race riot. Not only did the riots occur in Detroit, but in cities throughout the USA. The causes of these have been debated for over 50 years. What was true throughout the USA is that these riots rocked our sense of security and shook the belief that somehow the USA was different from other countries in the world. Approximately 100 years after the end of the Civil War, hatred and discrimination stubbornly remained in place. To this day, divisions between black and white, North and South, still exist and are being played out in the current election.
Then, of course, our world was turned upside down by the Vietnam War. 50,000 American youth died and hundreds of thousands were injured. Many of the wounds were to the body, and for others, their brains were shattered, leaving them traumatized. Many of these veterans have never recovered. Too often, we see them walking the streets, living in homeless conditions.
From there, the beat goes on: Ronald Reagan almost died from a gunshot wound, and John Lennon was shot dead in front of his apartment building. More recently, we have learned to live in fear because schools and public places of worship have been the scenes of random shootings, most for reasons beyond our understanding. One horrific incident surpasses the other in how many people die from violence and hatred.
Saturday, the latest episode of violence occurred in Pennsylvania. This time former President Donald Trump was shot in the ear and one person in the audience of his rally was killed. Mr. Trump avoided death by only a millimeter or two. Today our nation continues to be traumatized by acts of violence, often carried out with guns designed for the military but readily available to almost every citizen with few exceptions.
Perhaps Mr. Trump’s close call with death will be an opportunity for us as a nation to change our views of hatred and violence.
My class of 1964 is now turning 78 years old. We grew up in the age of Aquarius with the hope that we could transform the world into a better place. Now we must face the reality that things have not turned out the way we had hoped. Why have things been so bad?
Certainly, the availability of guns has turned our society into one of fear.
Certainly, hatred between sectors of society, now fueled by social media contributes to a violent pandemic.
Certainly, mental illness has contributed, as severely impaired individuals act out hallucinations and fantasies through violence.
Maybe it’s more existential. Although we do not think about it, the threat of nuclear devastation grows, as more countries develop the capacity for nuclear warfare.
Beyond all of these possibilities lies the unknown. Why do seemingly well-adjusted individuals decide to kill others and then kill themselves? Are the cases following a pattern? Is there a copycat nature to what is going on? If so, social scientists are not yet able to fully understand it.
I think of how this has affected me personally. Many are the ways. I fear for my grandchildren and hundreds of thousands of other children who are attending school with the fear of gun violence every day.
When I attend a big event, like a concert or sporting event, I find myself scanning for people who look suspicious.
As I have for most of my life, starting with elementary school, where we were trained to duck under our desks to protect ourselves from nuclear bombs, I have feared the breakout of a nuclear war, which could lead to the end of the world as we know it.
I wish to end this note positively. I tell myself that even though these incidents are widespread, they are relatively infrequent in terms of their direct effect on our lives. I tell myself that there are many positive examples in the world of people working diligently to find solutions where people can live peacefully together. I exercise my right to vote for the people who I believe will reject hate and, instead, radiate love. Sometimes songs will say it: in the 1960s it was the Youngbloods, with the recording of Get Together:
Love is but a song we sing
Fear’s the way we die
You can make the mountains ring
Or make the angels cry
Though the bird is on the wing
And you may not know why
Come on, people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another right now
Some may come and some may go
He will surely pass
When the one that left us here
Returns for us at last
We are but a moment’s sunlight
Fading in the grass
Come on, people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another right now
Come on, people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another right now
Come on, people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another right now
If you hear the song I sing
You will understand, listen
You hold the key to love and fear
All in your trembling hand
Just one key unlocks them both
It’s there at your command
Come on, people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another right now
Come on, people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another right now
I said come on, people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another right now
Right now
Right now
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