"We are the watchmen on the walls of freedom." JFK, Nov. 22,1963.

November 22, 1963. Anyone who was alive and old enough to understand, will never forget the unearthly chill that filled body and soul when the shot rang out, when Jackie climbed onto the trunk of the convertible to retrieve part of her husband's skull, when Walter Cronkite announced the incomprehensible news. I still weep when I allow myself to think about it. It. The day that the world began to try to come to terms with the snuffing out of America's youth. But notwithstanding the Camelot image, JFK was a cold war hawk, a social moderate and an old-style practical politician who knew how to win, one way or another. The proof : "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." But he had two brothers who cast a liberal net over his agenda to appeal to the youth of America and the world. He was likeable...charismatic...inspirational. At 46 and 1000 days into an ordinary presidency by most measures, John Firzgerald Kennedy was cut down. His accomplishments - the Cuban missile crisis, the Peace Corps, his echoing "Ich bin ein Berliner." There doesn't seem to be anything there that pointed to the kind of hatred that leads to assassination. But, there few Americans today who do not harbor the suspicion that JFK was the victim of a conspiracy. No one has proven it or even shown acceptable nuances of proof. And so we remember and mourn the loss of JFK and of the youthful energy of the innocent world he represented - and took with him to his grave. President Kennedy was in Dallas on that fateful day to give a speech. Although he never had the opportunity to give the speech, one of its messages would still resonate deeply in the hearts and consciences of Americans, even though the context has changed almost beyond recognition. In these times that require often superhuman determination to preserve liberty, we all can take courage from JFK's haunting words : "We are the watchmen on the walls of freedom...may we be worthy..."