QUARANTINE BLOG # 237

November 22, 2020

I was sitting in Mrs. Theoda Miller’s typing class, my fingers memorizing the pattern as Mrs. Miller called it out:

A S D F space J K L ; space A S D F space J K L ; space A S D F space J K L ; space

And then intercom crackled.  

In the ordinary pattern of the day at Southern High School, there would be morning announcements over the intercom, and afternoon announcements.  If the intercom came on at 1:30 in the afternoon, it was usually something like, “Mrs. Price, would you send David Sisler to the office, please.”  

Not that day.  November 22, 1963.  

Without preamble, Principal Kenneth Johns said, “President John F. Kennedy was shot today in Dallas, Texas.  I have no more information.”

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was assassinated on Friday, November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time in Dallas, Texas, while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza.

Kennedy was riding with his wife Jacqueline, Texas Governor John Connally, and Connally’s wife Nellie when he was fatally shot by former U.S. Marine Lee Harvey Oswald, firing in ambush from the Texas School Book Depository.  Governor Connally was seriously wounded in the attack.  The motorcade rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital where Kennedy was pronounced dead about 30 minutes after the shooting; Connally recovered.

Vice-President Lyndon Johnson had accompanied Kennedy to Dallas and been riding two cars behind Kennedy’s limousine in the motorcade.  At 2:38 p.m., with Jacqueline Kennedy at his side, he was administered the oath of office by federal judge Sarah T. Hughes aboard Air Force One shortly before departing for Washington.

Kennedy’s body was flown back to Washington, D.C., and placed in the East Room of the White House for 24 hours.  The following Sunday his coffin was carried on a horse-drawn caisson to the United States Capitol to lie in state.  Throughout the day and night, hundreds of thousands of people lined up to view the guarded casket.   Representatives from over 90 countries attended the state funeral on Monday, November 25.

After the Requiem Mass at St. Matthew’s Cathedral, Kennedy was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

“If not us, who?  If not now, when?”

“We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

“Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.”

👉  Today’s close, A Prayer for Our Leaders, is from https://blog.youversion.com/2020/03/a-prayer-for-our-leaders/

Dear God,

All authority is Yours, but You have given authority to leaders to protect and guide us.  Today, we ask that You would give all our leaders wisdom, discernment, strength, and resolve.  Keep them healthy, safe, and rested so that they can continue to guide us through this troubling time.

Give our government leaders wisdom about what needs to be done to stop the virus and stabilize our economy.

Give our spiritual leaders Your discernment on how to meet people’s needs as they continue to glorify Your name and encourage the Church.

Give our medical leaders insight into how to stop the virus.  Strengthen their resolve and honor their hard work in creating a treatment for COVID-19.

Give our civic leaders inspiration, courage, joy, and strength to meet the needs of their communities.

And help us, as leaders in our communities, to display courage, hope, generosity, and kindness.  Would the way we honor others inspire those around us.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

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