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It started about… no, exactly 50 years ago. I’d like to think it can’t get any worse but having lived through it, I predict there’s more to come. This is in no way a criticism of mass media, but playing right into the hands of public demand the media has managed to completely desensitize a whole generation if not an entire country.

I, like everyone else, have been watching the commemorative broadcasts of President Kennedy’s death, so many impressions and reactions, so many versions of the same event. What immediately struck me however, was not the video of the shooting or photos of the aftermath. Nor was it the countless conspiracy theories that have been continuously circulating for the past 50 years. It wasn’t even the stoic composure of the President’s wife, the huge void in history, or at the risk of sounding maudlin, the unfinished life. What really made me stop what I was doing and actually pay attention to the screen were the random interviews of seemingly unimportant spectators.

In very brief, unrehearsed remarks and in candid, exposed faces, there was horror. I felt and comprehend their intense sadness, confusion and fear, fascination and suspicion. But I’m betting that in 2013 we wouldn’t understand that the initial reaction of each and every bystander interviewed, was surprise. Can you in all honesty say that if a world leader is gunned down, even in our own country, on our own streets, that you would be surprised? I wouldn’t, and I find that troubling.

November 22, 1963 – I woke up at my Grandmother Aggie’s house, ate breakfast (she made what was very possibly the best bacon and eggs in the world), dressed for school… nothing special, the usual button-down shirt and tie. 3^rd grade was not exactly an “event” that’s just how we all dressed. Nothing special about that day, no one could have predicted that we would all remember it. Know what I remember the most after learning the definition of “assassination”? How surprised I was that it could happen to a President. To say I was shocked is asking way too much of a 3^rd grader. It really just surprised me.

The assassination of President Kennedy was probably the first such event that was so intensely covered by the media. With the recent installment of a television in every home, we were all unbelievably absorbed by endless coverage. We were absolutely riveted, we couldn’t get enough of the most surprising event of our life. Fast forward to 2013 when we scrutinize the minutiae and bad behavior of any celebrity’s every-day life, when we in fact create celebrity for no other reason than bad behavior. Is there nothing that is surprising any more? Are we, as a nation, now completely desensitized? Probably not, but we’re very close.