Kennedy Inauguration: I Was There

The inauguration of President John Kennedy was quite a thing, and I was there. It was two years before I would get KMAM Radio on the air, but it took that long to go through the red tape and waiting that was the FCC’s way back then. I was Publicity and Sports Director for Arkansas State University at that time, and so was named to go along with the ASU marching band, which had been invited to take part in the Inaugural Parade down Pennslyvania Avenue.

And my job was to take pictures. Of course this took a special pass, which was worn on the lapel so the scores of special plain-clothes men could see that I was ok with the camera.

Well, the night before, Washington D.C. got a 12-inch snow and on the big day it was colder than Alaska. So cold our band’s instruments froze and wouldn’t play. So cold our shapely majorettes came out in leotards. And so cold that even though I kept my film inside my shirt until ready to snap, the pictures were still poor. And when Poet Laureate Robert Frost got up to read a poem as part of the Kennedy inauguration, he went snow-blind. He made a couple of attempts, then finally said, “I can’t read this,” and simply sat down.

But everything went on without a hitch. But here’s the strangest thing: When JFK came across the sentence that would become a world-famous quote…”Ask not what your country can do for you; but ask what can you do for your country,” I didn’t realize the significance of it…the speech was droning, and I would have let it pass. Later, of course, it was nice to be able to say, “I was there.”

And do we treat the sacred words of the Bible the same way? How many times have we heard the story of the Prodigal Son…probably the most used text in the Bible? Even Christians become jaded to the Word. Note how the movie, “The Passion of Christ” awakened us again, although billions have been aware, down through the centuries, of what happened to Christ at His trial, crucifixion and resurrection.

Christians, let’s pray that His Word stays fresh in our minds and that our faith doesn’t get stale. To paraphrase, let’s say, “What can we do for Christ,” rather than “What can He do for us.” We’re living for Him for a reason that will become clear the moment Gabriel sounds the trumpet that Christ has returned for us.

37BT Bill Thornton April 6, 2004