Small Matters

AS WE APPROACH the forty ninth anniversary of the JFK assassination, we still haven't figured out who did it yet, though we are fairly sure, and really, always have been. Its just too unfathomable that a president can be murdered by a single impulsive unimportant kid, but there you have it.

We are drawn to conspiracies because they seem to give more power, more importance to a tragic event. In his new book, "Killing Kennedy", TV commentator bill O'Reilly suggests that the Kennedy assassination was carried out by an even smaller force than previously believed.

O'Reilly suggests that if lee harvey oswald had been successful in reconciling with his wife the day prior to the killing, there might not have been any killing, lee might have stayed home, a contented man.

and of course, this is entirely possible, if improbable, there is no way of knowing. but the very question does serve to remind us how unpredictable events are, and how very small actions can result in very enormous consequences.

I was eight years old when kennedy was killed, barely old enough to understand what was going on.Anyone much younger than I has no memory of that horrible day. my initial reaction to the news was excitement, because at that age my initial reaction to anything was excitement. The world can be an exciting place for a third grader.

I was horrified because I thought some lady named "linda johnson" was replacing kennedy as president. my older sister corrected me, with contempt.

I've grown. I no longer fear the possibility of a female american president.