45 Years Ago...

On November 22, 1963, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated. It's difficult to believe that 45 years have passed and in what a different world we presently live. The assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Francis Kennedy five years after JFK was another shock to a nation in turmoil. I'm so glad I didn't live in the '60s; although, sometimes I wonder if these times will be viewed as just as turbulent.

I may be a historian, but the 1960s and the Cold War era are past my area of expertise. However, I do tend to be a conspiracy theorist about some things. The assassination of JFK is one area that fascinates me. With more than 2,000 books written on the subject and at least one new documentary released each year, the individuals involved and impact of the crime seem endless.

I won't go into the theories I've considered (and may accept as near truth). However, I will say that I find the entire Kennedy family intriguing and there's more there than meets the eye. Perhaps two lessons we can all learn from them are that the end does not justify the means and ambition at all costs will result in extreme pain and a life of loneliness.

I wonder how the world would be if JFK, MLK, and RFK were never assassinated. We'll never know, but they were three visionaries and leaders that shaped the world, their generation, and the generations after them.