There were no computers, no Video Games, no
Internet, no MTV. We just had to deal with reality;
and FEEL…and try to deal with the pain. But how
DID we deal with the pain? I know I spent days
writing a hand written letter to Mrs. Kennedy,
and was fortunate to receive a hand signed
Thank-You letter. I am sorry to say, that letter was
lost through the years - it would have been amazing
to print. But I will never forget the sick feeling in
my stomach and the endless tears that were cried
for many months to come. On that fateful day, I
believe we changed as a nation. I believe... we
never recovered.
I have my own theory on how the American
family began to decay. We were not prepared as a
country to suffer the enormous loss of President
Kennedy’s assassination. Think about it; Television
covered the look AND sounds of that trauma.
In the forties there was only radio - any traumatic
coverage was auditory - not visual. How does a
country deal with an unforgettable live image of a
beautiful grief stricken widow and her two small
children? How does a Nation deal with a tiny little
boy saluting his dead father? Our countries' residents were mourning at profound levels. We had all
unknowingly bought into the illusion of “Camelot.”
Jackie had become a fashion icon, President
Kennedy was handsome and someone’s “Daddy,”
as well as President of the United States. We didn’t
want to know the truth behind the illusion. Whether
you were a Democrat or a Republican, the dream
was alive and well and had won over the hearts
of the American people. Now who was going to
deal with the grief and depression of the American
people?
Think about it; we as a Nation suffered a catastrophic death. There was no grief counseling, no
way for the general public to process the emotional
pain and loss. I personally feel this nation went
into a deep depression and and began to detach
from real feelings. When
grief is not dealt with head
on it can produce life long
side affects such as
Alcoholism, Depression
and an inability to cope
with reality. There is a
sense of hopelessness,
numbness, disassociation,
etc. Without proper coping
skills people will go to any
lengths to numb the pain.
IE: enter the seventies and,
oh, yes; THE EIGHTIES!
THE decade of excess;
Sex, drugs, and Rock n’
Roll! The “anything goes” decade. At the moment
we could have stepped up and dealt with reality,
we jumped head first into debauchery. You remember what happened to The Roman Empire!? Well, in
my opinion, the eighties were not much different.
You had Donna Summer singing about being a
Prostitute, promiscuity was a way of life, Coke was
no longer a drink but a drug, and Aids rose it’s ugly
head and claimed the life of millions. But did we
pay attention? I don’t think so.
Question: “Can a Nation suffering major depression deal with reality without proper help?” Did we
even know there was a problem? Where did the
grief go - how was it processed? Where did the
Americans of the sixties go from there? Did the
baby boomers and their children leave the pain and
sorrow behind, or did they drag their bag of broken
“
dreams into the future?
Well, I believe the repressed grief stricken Baby
boomers of the sixties, jumped into the eighties
with a vengeance! HEY!...If it feels good-do it!
If it numbs the pain do it! If you can watch MTV and
do Coke-do it! After all, it's all about ME-isn't it?
Ah, the eighties...The “me-me” society. The rise of
big new - age money. The rise of excess to the
max. You were as big as your house or your Ferrari.
There was the the American Dream; distorted, running, numbing, ignoring-just doing what felt good.
Your personal worth was now calculated by your
NET WORTH!
But what about the children? I believe the eighties was the subtle moment in time when we shifted
the focus from intimacy to achievement and materialism. The family focus was monetary wealth-and
as long as you could send your child to the best private schools, live in the best home, drive the best
new car, you were OK! How do I know? Because I
lived it.
Thank - God I was spared from the drug scene.
I was lucky; I went through the sixties thinking
people were crazy for
ingesting some foreign
substance into their
system. I believed it then,
and I believed it in the
seventies, eighties,
nineties and the New
Millennium. And I was in
the entertainment industry
in the seventies and
eighties! That life style
would have been easy to
live and embrace.
I performed Rock
Concerts, did