Kennedy tragedy -Reply

[Guest guest]

Thank you for sharing this. It is beautiful and inspiring.

Helene Rosen

>>> 07/19/99 02:54pm >>>

Often when faced with personal or national tragedy, not

knowing what to

say, we don't say anything. But we certainly feel things --

usually a

sense of sadness or loss or shock. The current events

reminded me of

something I wrote a few years ago but never shared. It

relates to the

passing of JFK,Jr's mother. I share it with the list for whatever

benefit it may have.

==========

REFLECTIONS

Blair J. Packard, PT

Yesterday (May 23, 1994) I spent the day in andria,

Virginia, along

with fellow APTA Board members and others who gathered

to finish a

process begun several months ago - the process of selecting

a new CEO

( Mallon) for APTA. Such an event heralds a beginning

of sorts,

and of necessity, marks a passing.

In that same setting some of us who are completing terms of

office on

the Board noted that this marked " last " trips to Washington.

The hours

logged in airplanes and terminals somewhere between

Arizona and

Washington, D.C. seemed to me, at least, the only real

unpleasantry in

an otherwise wonderful journey the past three years as a

member of the

APTA Board of Directors. This morning, I was up at 5:30

a.m. (2:30 a.m.

Arizona time) to catch a 6:45 a.m. flight home - my " last "

one.

This morning the flights were taking off up river, rather than

down the

Potomac toward the Atlantic. As the half-empty plane rapidly

gained

speed down the National Airport runway, I was sitting on the

left side

of the plane, already mid-way through a book that I had

begun two days

earlier on the flight to Washington. Shortly after liftoff the pilot

began the process of gently banking the plane to the left to

follow the

path of the Potomac upstream. As the plane rolled left, the

Pentagon

loomed large off the left wing. And then there was Arlington

National

Cemetery.

A day earlier, at precisely the same time that about twenty

people were

circled in a hotel room and intensely focused on an interview

and

selection process for APTA*s new CEO, much of the rest of

the country

seemed very much as focused on events occurring just a few

miles from

us in Arlington National Cemetery. I resisted the temptation

to look

out the airplane*s window quickly to see if there were any

residual

evidence, any gathering crowds of the curious, from the burial

of

Kennedy Onassis the day before. The nation had

buried a

greatly admired former first lady, but much more than just a

former

first lady. Jackie Kennedy had been part of a time and era in

which

many of us grew up. This was an era of great turmoil, but

hope, and one

in which the youthful leadership of her husband had even

sparked a sort

of American Camelot. That has passed on, too.

I returned quickly to the book that was absorbing me. On

the title

page is a hand-written personal inscription to me from the

author,

B. Puller, Jr. The book is the Pulitzer Prize-winning

" Fortunate

Son. " Puller was also buried at Arlington cemetery just

a few

days earlier, having taken his own life. His death came as a

shock to

me. For any who may not know, Mr. Puller was the keynote

speaker at the

opening ceremonies of APTA Annual Conference last year

(1993) in

Cincinnati. It is the custom of the Board to hold a reception

for the

keynote speaker and spend an hour with the guest.

Puller made us

all feel very much like he was the host at this gathering, as

from his

wheelchair he greeted and engaged each of us in

conversation that made

us all feel very comfortable. We warmed to him quickly, a gift

and

characteristic that in his book he ascribed more to his

famous father,

but one which he obviously inherited as well. And then all of

us

attending the opening ceremony were graced by his inspiring

message.

took the time to provide a personalized copy of his

book to each

of us on the Board. A busy schedule, something not foreign

to any on

the Board, had as yet kept me from reading this book. His

unfortunate

death shocked me into the necessity to seek to better

understand who he

was, perhaps only through his words that remained. Already

his book has

provided a window on a time, on events, and on emotions

that I passed

through but never really felt. For many of us who grew up in

the

sixties, went to college in the seventies, but somehow

escaped the

horrors of war's inhumanity, Puller's writing can open

our hearts

and eyes. I can now feel and see things more clearly that I

could not,

or did not, then. I, who am somewhere still in life's journey

between

birth and death, am the beneficiary of someone else's legacy

and

learning passed on, really, to anyone who cares enough to

have it.

Having it is one thing. Doing something of worth with that

understanding passed on to us is quite another thing.

Perhaps that is

the essence of personal growth, and ultimately, of civilization

and

humanity.

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