America…A History of Assassinations, Attempts..and the Unknown

The recent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump is a reminder of our long-standing history of assassinations and assassination attempts. What happened on a sunny afternoon in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13th is a reminder of the unpredictable nature of human behavior.

The alleged shooter was a young man – 20 – and a registered Republican. Go figure. A reminder of the unpredictable nature of the human mind. It remains to be seen what will be learned next.

In the decades since the two Kennedy assassinations as well as Dr. Martin Luther King in 1968, there have been failed assassination attempts. July 13th was a little too close for comfort. Donald Trump dodged death by one inch. Had he not turned his head, he would have been assassinated – which would have been an enormous tragedy for the nation and one for the history books.

Another miserable scar in our 248-year history.

For the record, I am a centrist – both conservative and liberal. I think what happened to former President Trump was a near miss. Too close for comfort. I also believe we each need the freedom of be who we are regardless of what others believe. If you are gay/lesbian, be who you are and make no apologies for it. Live the life you want to live. Conservative? Liberal? I don’t care. Believe as you wish to believe as long as you don’t harm others. And, for the record, I am not happy with either candidate. We need and should expect better.

What happened on a Saturday afternoon in the heart of Pennsylvania is a reminder of how dangerous the world has always been. Safety is an illusion. We are sailing through a vast cosmos at mind-boggling speed. We’re never in the same place from one second to the next. We orbit the sun. Our solar system sails through the galaxy. Our galaxy is always on the move.

Safety is but an illusion.

Human nature is the want for absolute safety. We’re taught to believe this from the time we are very young. We want absolute safety – yet we will never have it – not in life and not even in our own bodies. We are soft tissue creatures – vulnerable to the elements. Nowhere is this more true than in automobiles. Air bags, crush zones, seat belts, side impact protection – yet a sudden stop at 80 mph is still a sudden stop. Our aorta bursts, soft tissue ruptures, organs cease to function – and life ends.

Know what I believe? All will be well in any case. Our ride on this planet is a passing journey no matter how much we want to believe life will never end. Because each and every one of us eventually dies – how bad can it be?

Remember…All will be well…

Life is a matter of what we call fate. “Well….it just wasn’t his time…” Maybe… The physical world has its share of risks – more than we wish to acknowledge. As has often been said, you won’t get off this apple alive. No truer words have been said.

Back to the subject of assassinations and attempts. No matter how much security and recon’ we put into and expect from government and law enforcement, there will be killings and attempted killings. Always someone out there a little smarter than law enforcement. Pennsylvania is a reminder of how dangerous the world is and will always be. The Secret Service did its best to protect Donald Trump. However, it appears the bullets intended for Trump killed one spectator and wounded two others. It remains to be seen how the Secret Service missed a young man on a rooftop. There are questions to be answered and lessons to be learned.

We remain a work in progress in The Great Society.