6/6/68

It is difficult
to believe that forty years has past. Today is fortieth anniversary of the day
that I took my last final and finished college. I can remember many details of
days past, but I cannot remember the subject of that final. I was taking that final
with a heavy heart and conflicted thoughts because the night before Robert
Kennedy had been shot. I was an idealistic 21 year old who was going to go out
into the world, teach history, coach and save the world. I had a good summer
job with the park department awaiting me and I would start work on my teaching
credential that fall at UCSB. I had the world by the tail. Now the world seemed like a
bigger mess than it was the day before. It was the first election I voted in
and RFK was the first person I had ever voted for. Ironically I never had any
intention of voting for him, I was going to vote for McCarthy or someone else
who I thought would end the war in Vietnam, but on April 19 Kennedy came to
Fresno State and spoke to an overflow crowd at the outdoor Amphitheater.
It
was an electrifying speech. When I left that speech I was convinced that this
man and his ideals were the answer. He didn’t tell us everything we wanted to
hear, he was realistic and passionate. I must admit that this speech fueled my
idealism. Now five weeks later he was dead. I was confused. This was a heavy dose
of reality and an introduction to the violent world of 1968. I have seen a
lot and done many things in the last forty years but I will never forget his acceptance
speech and then a
few minutes later the news flash that he had been shot. It was a hollow feeling
that I will never forget. Now, studying for next day’s final did not seem
important. It certainly made me think about the world and what the
future would hold for me and for the country. In the past forty
years we have all witnessed some terrible tragedies and more horrors of war, we
have also witnessed some amazing accomplishments. My hope is that the spirit and
the ideals that RFK stood for will carry us forward in a positive direction
that will help to end war and bring food and health to all peoples of the world.
I found these words from his speech that day at Fresno State:

The
spirit of youth is "not a time of life, but a state of mind," Kennedy
told a crowd of 5,000 in the then-Fresno State College amphitheater. The great
division in the world is not between people and races, he said, but
"between those bound by the past and those freed for the future, and I
stand with the spirit of youth."

My
sincerest wish is that the today’s youth will take up the challenge.