A Malat Musing: Remembering Bobby

An elder was recently asked; “If you could change just ONE historic event during your lifetime, what would it be?” The period of time in question spans the years from 1948 through today.

This elder had witnessed cures for polio and other diseases and with no one getting rich through those contributions. He grew up at a time when America had the most prosperous middle class the world had ever known and watched how that growth propelled the most prosperous economy in history. He waited and prayed and then watched as a potential nuclear confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union was averted. He cheered the Peace Corps, the passage of Medicare and Medicaid and other initiatives to stem poverty in the richest country in the world. He cheered America’s landing a man on the moon. He watched the rise of the single greatest American who ever lived, Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Junior, and again cheered as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 became the law of the land.

He next pondered how American values, morality and civilized, respectful behavior toward one another has deteriorated. How we no longer pass laws or rescind laws for moral reasons. How we now declare war on the poor rather than on poverty. How brutal, vicious violence now goes unchecked. How we callously accept spree shootings and mass killings, gang murders and our wars. How we can ignore the suffering and dying of our sick along with acceptance of rampant unnecessary abortions. How we have lost our sense of obligation and commonly refuse to accept accountability for our conduct.

So to properly address the question, reflection on when this deterioration began was necessary. For it is at that point in history that crucial change was necessary.

In 1968 America was in the midst of a revolution. As stated in the June 27, 2013 Malat Musing entitled “Moons and Junes and Ferris Wheels;” “The Vietnam war was tearing the nation apart. Buildings, draft cards and American flags were burned. Schools were temporarily closed. Roads and access to buildings were blocked. Government buildings were burglarized. Parents and children became estranged as never before. Children left home and joined communes and embraced a rebellious, radical, sometimes violent lifestyle. Brothers stopped speaking to one another. The contemporary depiction of the police was; “the pigs.” Service men were spat on, egged and called baby killers. Young Americans headed north of the border to avoid imprisonment. Protestors were beaten, imprisoned and shot to death while 58,282 families buried their loved ones – the casualties of this war. The country also witnessed the sunshine of hope for a brighter tomorrow eclipsed by the dark moons of assassination, as the country buried their most compassionate and loving leaders of the day.” The country was badly fractured. The awful hatreds surrounding Vietnam, civil rights, poverty and injustice were tearing America apart and destroying altruistic objectives – destroying the very best of who we were.

It is still widely accepted that Senator Robert F. Kennedy was the only candidate who could have unified the country at the height of all this madness. Senator Eugene McCarthy ran a strictly anti-war campaign. Richard Nixon ran a get tough campaign comprised of both restoring “Law-And-Order” and a military victory – “I pledge to you that we shall have an honorable end to the war in Vietnam.” - “Peace-With-Honor” in Vietnam. Hubert Humphrey straddled the political fence with great skill, careful not to alienate anyone. He uttered nothing of importance until the last month of the 1968 presidential campaign. Humphrey was convinced that the Democratic Party power structure would secure his election.

Bobby made unity his central campaign theme. He addressed all the ugliness with moral courage, candor and grace. He was a visionary, knowing exactly what awaited America if we didn’t commit ourselves to a stronger more vibrant country through love, compassion, understanding and national unity.

“What I think is quite clear is that we can work together in the last analysist. And that what’s been going on in the United States in the period of the last three years; the divisions, the violence the disenchantment with our society, the divisions whether it’s between the blacks and whites, between the poor and the more affluent, or between age groups or on the war in Vietnam; we can start to work together. We are a great country. We are a selfless country. We are a compassionate country. And I intend to make that the basis for my running...”

His death fifty-years ago, on June 6, 1968, signaled the beginning of the end of an era of decency and compassion in governmental leadership. Progressive ideology began its descent. The commitment through a strong moral fiber and charter necessary to govern in this nation’s common good and general welfare began losing its once significant influence.

Those who may suggest this was just political rhetoric are reminded of the very first words Kennedy uttered after being shot and while lying in a pool of his own blood before going into a coma; “Is everybody OK?”

What one event would that elder change? Bobby would live and our frustration and heartache with; If Only… and, What If… would instead perish and the bright sunshine that once adorned America and so much of the rest of the world, would be restored in all its majesty, for us to bask in once again.