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President John F. Kennedy
November 22, 1963—the day the heart of a nation stopped beating.
I was standing on the dock of the Cudahy Packing Company in Washington Court House, Ohio when I first heard the news that our President, John F. Kennedy, had been shot in Dallas, Texas. The Cudahy Packing Company manufactured cheese and I had worked there since graduating from high school in June of 1961. My sister-in-law worked there also and she was the first person to tell me the news. She was crying as she said, “Someone has just shot President Kennedy!” I remember everyone was stunned as we waited for more news. It must have been about thirty minutes later when several other people came out of the factory and onto the dock with the news that he had been shot in the head and pronounced dead at the hospital.
I was 20 years old at the time and I wondered why anyone would want to shoot him. Our whole country loved this man and his family and the young people were especially fond of him. He had captured the heart of America with his winning personality. People loved the slang in his voice when he would speak and I believe it was one of the reasons John F. Kennedy was so well liked. His voice and smile had charmed America like few Presidents had ever done before.
I can remember the funeral broke the heart of America as we watched it on TV. Grown men wept as they saw the President’s son, little John Jr., who was not yet three years old, put a flower on his father’s coffin. I watched the little fellow on TV salute his father’s casket as they prepared to put it on the horse-drawn wagon to be pulled to Arlington National Cemetery. It was one of the saddest days in America that I could ever remember. The shot that killed our President also wounded the heart of our great nation.
I think the assassination of John F. Kennedy made our nation realize there must be more security surrounding our Presidents and top government officials especially during public events. But I think we also realize, at the risk of sounding philosophical, this type of thing can never be completely eliminated as long as there is evil in men’s hearts. I personally saw the face of evil that day as I had never seen it before.
Over 2000 years ago a man by the name of Jesus Christ came and stood on the center stage of the world. He came with the express purpose of eliminating the evil that was destroying His Father’s world. He came carrying no guns, knives, swords or spears and the only weapon He had He carried in His heart and that weapon was the Love of God. Millions upon untold millions of men and women can testify that with that single weapon He destroyed the evil in their hearts. Someday Presidents, Kings, Princes and Priests shall bow at His feet and declare He is Lord of all to the glory of God the Father.
