posted
This weekend is the 40th anniversary of Robert Kennedy's assasination. I'm not nearly old enough to remember Kennedy, or to know how it must have felt for those who loved him when he died. To steal a bit from a theme that's splashed all over CNN, there's a mirror in America today. We have an unpopular war, an unpopular president, and a pervasive feeling in this country that we must be something other than what we currently are, that we can be something better what what we currently are. For decades the youth of this nation have slumbered in their apathy, and yet now there are signs that they've awakened, taken a look at the nation around them, and have chosen to act to make it better. I'm not going to try and compare Obama to Kennedy. I don't know Kennedy well enough to try and make that comparison, so I'll leave it for others.
I don't have to be old enough to have seen him personally to be moved by his words when I hear them, or his speeches when I see them on video. I recognize something powerful when I hear it. As much as this is to remember Kennedy, and maybe in general the Kennedy brothers for their sacrifices and service to the country, it's to recognize the similarities then and now, and for as far as we've come, there's still work left to be done.
We're a nation that moves on. We seldom forget, as there is always someone there to remind us, and the torch is always passed. But we move on. 40 years has brought us a lot of progress, well earned, and heavily paid for. Now a new generation of Americans is ready to step up and take part in our slow crawl to betterment. I think Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy would be proud to see that their message and their hopes didn't die with them, but instead the torch was passed, and the fire still burns hot and bright.
In many ways I hope that the energy and feeling of the necessity for national improvement that pervaded the landscape of this country 40 years ago is being revisited upon us now, and that now is the time for my own generation to take up the mantle. For all the problems we have, the divisions and the hardships, it's the first time in my own life that this sort of energy has been apparent in America. There's bitterness, there's resentment, and there's anger. But the energy I'm talking about is a driving force of hope for what we can do together as a nation. I'm 23 and already jaded and cynical about politics, and even about the nation in many ways. But little by little I'm starting to feel that maybe my cynicism is too presumptuous, and that maybe I dare to hope that right now, in this time and in this place, we're making a choice to participate and make things better.
Just some thoughts, sorry if I rambled. For those old enough to remember, I'd love to hear recollections and feelings from the era and specifically reactions to hearing about Kennedy's assasination.
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posted
Adam, I completely agree with your sentiment about American politics today. As young person, I feel like politics don't cater or even consider the younger generation. Our population no longer comprises of merely the baby boomer generation. Instead, their children are coming of age where they are young enough to not remember the Vietnam War or the way things were just after it, but are now old enough to make themselves known, be heard, and make a difference.
We need to take advantage of this singular moment in history. We are finally able to make a change and take the country in a better direction and push forwards towards making the United States and the world in general a better place that accurately portrays the feelings of the younger population. I feel that politics today only reflects the wishes of a fraction of the population.
I believe that RFK made this change happen in the 1960s. He and his brothers made the young people care about what happens to their country and made them feel that they actually could change things. That was the key. They gained faith that things COULD change, instead of being resigned to the government and politics that they had grown up with and learned to resent.
The same is true today. What Adam said is completely right. Now is the first time that I feel like I can make a difference to make my nation, and the world at large, a better place. We must act now, or lose the chance. As a young generation, we've known very little of inspiring politics or politicians. Obama is one of those few. He has the ability to inspire my generation and we have to act on that inspiration. I don't want another 4 years of my parent's politics. I need something that will inspire me to make America and the world a better place.
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