Good Sense

I am no history buff, but I do find it interesting.  I just don’t make enough time to read and learn.  I would like to do that more.  You don’t need to be a history buff to know that today is the 50^th anniversary of the death of JFK.    I know that wasn’t that long ago, but I was two years old, so that qualifies as history for me, since it is something I don’t remember experiencing at the time.  I regret to say that due to recent press and the media, I think I know more about JFK’s philandering than I do his presidential policies, but there are a couple of things that I do remember that deserve great admiration.  In his inaugural speech, he spoke the famous words: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”  If we could all adopt this mind set, I believe politics would work a lot better.   I also know that JFK was a leader in civil rights and that he took an active role in getting people to treat each other fairly.  When Coretta Scott King was put in jail for trying to integrate a department store lunch counter, he phoned Georgia Governor Earnest Vandiver to request her release.  Governor Vandiver was born in Franklin County, has a section of I85 named for him and was married to Betty Russell.  The lake just below Lake Hartwell, Lake Russell, is named for Betty’s family.  (Wow, that was a long way to go to get a lake plug in.)  Anyway, today I choose to remember the good that came from the life of JFK.  I hope you do, too.