Then the announcer broke in, and I had to call my Mom from the other room. She immediately broke into tears, and I knew at that moment nothing would ever be the same again.

I don’t think I understood for many years why someone would want to kill the President. A few years later, of course, there was another assassination. I was older, but I still didn’t understand.

People say we should limit guns, I guess as a way of limiting violence. I wonder if we wouldn’t be better served by refusing to accept a life filled with hate and a desire for ideological purity. I know I am sick of seeing so much of American History that I am living being characterized by hatred and divisiveness. It is a horrible example given to us by a segment of our population, some of them public figures.