Dallas 1PM

Today, forty-four years ago, Jack Ruby (nee Rubinstein to a frum family) emptied a single bullet from his Colt Cobra into Lee Harvey Oswald’s stomach. Oswald died of the wound a short while later, and Ruby died of illness after his appeal.

To this day, stipulations and conspiracy theories abound. Why was JFK assassinated and who was really behind it all are questions which will probably never be answered.

What the assassination did however achieve, was sugarcoating the Playboy President’s legacy, and downplaying his many failures and misdeeds. Claiming that without Oswald we’d be speaking Russian today might be an exaggeration, but it sure isn’t far from the truth.

Many times in history assassins of dictators are heralded, even if not outright heroes, as people who rid their countries of oppression. This is true even if the assassins turned out to be no better than their victims. Cromwell and Napoleon sure fit the description, and even today many are willing to downplay the Bolsheviks’ abysmal evil, brutality and cruelty because they dethroned the Czar. Yet one who’d dare even the slightest such nod in Oswald’s direction is regarded as a lunatic at best. The fact however is, despite the admiration, J.F. Kennedy was
at best a midget compared to his predecessor, Eisenhower.

Today we also have a feeling of betrayal and abandonment. Our so-called leaders play with our money, our education, our children and our lives with absolute impunity. There’s no accountability, wherever there’s a serious problem there’s someone who can help but turns away. “We can’t do a thing,” they say, but when they are always faster than lightning to pay back the man with the big wallet. This is true about many leaders at many levels. Or rather, just powerful people, for leaders they are not. They may parade as leaders, but their leadership fails with their inability –or unwillingness- to lead their own selves.

It is at such times that unity is most precious and of utmost importance. When responsibility is rejected by those who need it most, it falls on everyone else’s shoulders. That’s precisely what must be understood by all who want change. We don’t want animal farm all over again.

But we shouldn’t go overboard…

© Joseph Izrael 2007