Will Ruha wrote this on Facebook today about JFK

[Douglas Caddy]

Thoreau, in his essay on heroism, wrote this passage that I’ve always felt was a fair description of Jack Kennedy, whose visage of vigorous health, tanned and bright smiling, masked the ravages of a life of ill health. (That his favorite poem was young Alan Seeger’s “I Have a Rendezvous with Death” rather well informs us.)

“To speak the truth, even with some austerity, to live with some rigor of temperance, (or some extremes of generosity), seems to be an asceticism which co...mmon good-nature would appoint to those who are at ease and in plenty, in sign that they feel a brotherhood with the great multitude of suffering men. And not only need we breathe and exercise the soul by assuming the penalties of abstinence, of debt, of solitude, of unpopularity, but it behooves the wise man to look with a bold eye into those rarer dangers which sometimes invade men, and to familiarize himself with disgusting forms of disease, with sounds of execration, and the vision of violent death.”

 

 

 

 

 

Will Ruha What I find most fascinating about Jack Kennedy is his indefatigable, seemingly invincible, spirit. He remained unbowed in the face of near-death, acute illness, almost unbearable pain and tragic loss, electing to project a positive, winning, charismatic and compelling demeanor that uplifted and enlightened everyone in his presence.
During my meeting with Dave Powers, he couldn’t speak of Jack without his eyes misting over for the fond memories he shared with me of his good and gallant friend. He regaled me with anecdotes of his many years with Jack, and of the wit, kindness, and thoughtfulness of his close friend. Commander Ted Robinson, who spent more than two months with Jack in a hospital tent in the Solomon Islands told me, “He had just the most upbeat attitude, even when I knew he was in terrible pain.” Paul Fay Jr., who knew him for the last 20 years of his life, told me, “Jack Kennedy was the funniest guy I ever met. He always made everyone around him feel great. When he walked into a room, he just lit it up, every moment was just magical, rarefied.”
And the remarkable trait he had that so endeared him to women was that he chose to be, as Flo Pritchard Smith and so many others said, “the best listener I ever knew. I mean, he was an intense listener. You never, for a moment, though he was disinterested or simply going thorough polite formalities. He listened to every word. He made you feel like he was fascinated by you; that you were, to him, the most important person in the world.”
He was one of those rare human beings with the gift of great personal magnetism, an ability to attract and hold the attention and admiration of others via his sheer zest for life and ability to uplift them, make them feel special, somewhat elite not by mere camaraderie, but for being part of his charismatic coterie.

[Joe Bauer]

Truly and wonderfully accurate.

We went from the most attractive , upbeat, intelligent, charming and inspiring president in our history to...

a paranoid, corrupted Ogre with LBJ.

 

Edited August 27, 2017 by Joe Bauer