Reagan Roundtable: The past is a different country. Except that it’s not. by Onparkstreet
We were also surprised because our teacher, an ardent liberal, had never hidden his political disdain for Ronald Reagan and everything he stood for in his lectures, offhand comments or jokes. Most of the teachers had the same attitude. But our instructor launched into an impassioned speech about how the POTUS, whomever he was or what we thought of him, represented all the people of the United States and that his assassination would be an attack on not just the president, but on America. That we had certain obligations and duties as citizens of the United States at a time like this, and showing respect to the President of the United States was one of them.
He went on to describein detail how he felt and how people had behaved when President Kennedy was killed and contrasted it with our behavior, telling us he was ashamed and embarrassed for us that we did not know any better. When he was finished, a loud silence reigned supreme.
A teachable moment.
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historyguy99:
February 13th, 2011 at 5:52 am
How things have changed, as related in the narrative that you and Doc Madu shared about how your respective classes reacted to Reagan being shot. I vividly remember the day President Kennedy was shot and how the universal reaction was swift and cut across all strata’s of society and political thought. I also remember the day Reagan was shot. I was running a unionized trucking company and after it was announced to a crowd of burly teamsters, silence fell across the group and then someone offered up a prayer. These men; all with the memory of Kennedy in their past, knew that an attack on the President was an attack on all of us.
onparkstreet:
February 13th, 2011 at 5:49 pm
Funny that we had similar experiences and yet were in different environments. I wonder what that means? Maybe my interpretation is incorrect and we Gen Xers are just jerks, full stop.
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– Madhu