Hope

It is no wonder to me that JFK was held in such high regard.  I don’t remember much about him.  I was too young.  It is good to have been too young for something.
I am reading a speech he gave commemorating the American poet, Robert Frost.  Just about everything JFK said resonates in me.  To me, JFK was great on several levels, and one of them was how he had a way with words.
The section of the book I am reading contains many eulogies and tributes.  They all have one thing in common.  The good is highlighted.  I think it is a bit of a pity that often someone needs to cark it before what is good about them is emphasised.  I know I want to feel good.  Highlighting my good attributes helps (they are there.  Forensic investigation may be needed, but that can yield results.)
Apparently, Robert Frost was not only a beautiful poet, he was good at calling a spade a spade. He wrote “I have been, one acquainted with the night.”  To that JFK said “He brought an unsparing instinct for reality to bear on the platitudes and pieties of society.  His sense of the human tragedy fortified him against self-deception and easy consolation.    And because he knew the midnight as well as the high noon. And because he understood the ordeal as well as the triumph of the human spirit, he gave his age strength with which to overcome despair.”
Me thinks them mighty fine words.  So much of what I am reading I want to highlight.
What I am reading and what I have read makes me wonder, what would I be remembered for?  What would be on my headstone?  I had to sum up in a few words my mum’s life and put it on the headstone.  At work we used to joke that my headstone would say “unknown – will monitor.”  That was because often my response to things that I did not understand was, “unknown – will monitor.”
I, along with everyone else I think, want to be remembered for good stuff.  I found it really pertinent when Bob Dylan sang “I wish that I’d been a doctor.  Maybe I’d have done some good in this world, stead of burning every bridge I crossed.”
One of the reasons I like “he understood the ordeal as well as the triumph” is that I want to be a ra ra man, but I do not want to be that way because I ignore how it is.  I do not like burying my head in the sand.  It is dark, uncomfortable, and I can’t breathe.
I have said often, I cannot solve a problem until I recognise there is one.  I can change nothing if I do not recognise something needs changing.
JFK commemorated Robert Frost beautifully in my mind.  The way he put stuff was obviously based on his experience.  He spoke with hope.  We all need that.  I think we need it now in particular as we see our world going down the gurgler.    There is no doubt a lot of good, but selfishness rules.
Unfortunately, no one is perfect but fortunately, we are all a work in progress, and together we can solve stuff.