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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Grainne who wrote (51503)	8/15/1999 10:17:00 PM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 108807

>>>>>I thought that John, who almost everyone agreed was a good and decent man who did quiet works of charity graciously, also had the potential at some point in the future to lead this country out of the swamp that it has become. It was reassuring to me to have him in the background, and I believe he could have played a pivotal role.<<<<< Merely on the basis of his family? If so, please forgive me, but how creepy. Haven't we gone beyond believing in hereditary nobility in this country? George W. Bush, for example, has been an effective governer of Texas for two terms ~ I am sure you don't like him, but at least you have to agree that he has proven himself worthy of consideration as a future national leader, whereas JFK, Jr. never did anything of similar caliber. He was a pleasant man, I agree in advance. It is always surprising to see wealthy men behave well, but it is hardly worthwhile electing someone to public office merely because his father was important and he, himself, is pleasant.

To: Grainne who wrote (51503)	8/15/1999 10:35:00 PM
From: Michael M	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

Come, sit down in the shade, dear. I'll get you some fresh iced tea and you'll feel just fine in minute.

To: Grainne who wrote (51503)	8/15/1999 10:41:00 PM
From: Father Terrence	Respond to of 108807

We don't need a person to "lead: us anywhere. That is the great fallacy of the modern age. What "we" (read: individuals) need is for the government to protect our rights and defend our nation PERIOD. As for the rest, leave us the hell alone!

To: Grainne who wrote (51503)	8/15/1999 11:55:00 PM
From: Dayuhan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

in the back of my mind I thought that John, who almost everyone agreed was a good and decent man who did quiet works of charity graciously, also had the potential at some point in the future to lead this country out of the swamp that it has become. It was reassuring to me to have him in the background, and I believe he could have played a pivotal role. What on earth gave you that idea? I'm sure he was a nice guy, but what had he done that made you think of him leading us out of the swamp?

To: Grainne who wrote (51503)	8/16/1999 12:20:00 AM
From: E	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 108807

I would like to say on this topic, even though I know I've said more than enough already, that I think the difference is much simpler than that. I suspect very few of the people who felt bad about his death did so because their hopes for leadership from him were dashed. This is just my impression, of course. People did feel they "knew" JFKjr. Many people felt as they would toward a friend or neighbor. They felt they knew something about the kind of person he was; and they knew his mother and father. And they didn't know his wife very well, or his sister in law at all, just as they didn't know Mr. Radziwill. Grief, or the feeling that resembles it to those that are experiencing it, comes, I think, from the feeling of having lost someone who felt to you like a friend or family member. Familiarity is most of that. I talked to someone I know who used to see John, as she called him, around the city often. She felt very bad when he died. I told her about the conversation here. She told me about an experience she had had that this made her think of: She goes to a gym. She would sometimes exercise next to or near one particular woman. They would exchange nods or hellos from time to time. One day the woman mentioned to someone that she was moving to Florida. Someone brought in a bottle of champagne and my friend was there at the gym for the goodbye toast. That was when she heard the woman's name for the first time. So... the woman ceases coming to the gym. And a few weeks later, my friends sees, on the bulletin board at the gym, a notice, posted there by a friend of the woman, that she had died. Well, the point of this story is that my friend didn't know this woman, really. She had only... seen her around. Said hi a few times. Gotten the impression that she was a nice person. Felt positively toward her, and felt that she was a 'familiar.' Yet, she told me, when she saw that the woman had died, she felt very, very bad. Sad. The sadness visited her off and on for days, whenever she'd think of this nice-seeming woman, who was quite young, and the fact that she didn't exist any more. The reason she told the story was to indicate how odd it was to her that there were people who didn't understand why people should feel so bad for the death of someone they really didn't know very well. But that they felt they did, somehow.