"Don't let it be forgot,
that once there was a spot
for one brief shining moment,
known as Camelot."

I remember it so clearly standing in line taking measured steps until we stood in front of the Mona Lisa in Washington D.C. on a cold January day in 1962; and the following year standing on the curbside on Pennsylvania Avenue waiting to see John Kennedy and President Betancourt of Argentina pass by. The draw this day for us was that Jackie was going to be with them in the open car. The two presidents were in the car, but alas no Jackie. A small disappointment indeed. But there would be other days, and other chances to see them together. These were heady days for our country and for us. We all thought we were living in a charmed time, in a charmed city, in a charmed country. We didn't know that the clock was ticking and soon those days, which would be compared to Camelot, would come to a tragic end, and the country would have to endure three murders that would change our country forever.

I remember how I felt then as if it were yesterday, I was young, I thought that it could only get better and better and anything was possible. When we as a country received those three body blows it knocked the breath out of us and an age of cynicism took it's place. It continues today, look around, listen to our leaders, brotherhood is only a word in the dictionary. Debate has become yelling contests and coming together for the common good is only a wishful thought.

The tragedy caused by those three deaths continues in our actions. It's sad.