What were you doing?

     There are certain days in each generation when that question has meaning.  In my generation, November 22nd is tied to events in Dallas in 1963 - the day that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

     It was a Friday and I was taking a Latin test from Benedictine Father Augustine at Saint Vincent Prep in Latrobe.  I was in my junior year of High School.  I remember some seniors knocking at the door and telling Father Augustine that the President had been shot.  They often joked around, and he didn't believe them.  A little later others came and told him the same thing, and he finally trusted their word.  After we finished the test, we were allowed to leave the classroom.  Most of us gravitated to the Art Department where Father Emeric had a small TV where we watched the news until our bus arrived.

     The short bus ride back to our residence hall (about five miles) was in almost total silence.  We were beginning an in house weekend retreat that night, during which we were allowed to watch the news and history being made.   The mood was somber, and most were devastated.  I remember that evening one of our cooking staff, an Italian Sister of Charity of Ivrea - Sister Johanna - setting the tables with tears streaming down her face.  Even with her newness to this country and her limited knowledge of the English language, she spoke and we understood the language of grief.

     We were young and probably nieve, the president was young and dynamic, hope was blossoming and new things and fresh starts were taking place in society and inside the Church with the Vatican Council.  This was a day, a moment in history, when we were challenged to the core, and the world for many of us changed in a less than welcoming way.

     November 22nd, like December 7th before it or 9/11 after will be remembered for their historic importance, but more so for the impact upon the lives of those who experienced them.  The questions "Where were you?" and "What were you doing?" will always be able to be answered by those who experienced those days.