Wow. I just saw a story on Good Morning America about a letter that an 8 year old girl wrote to President Kennedy in 1961.
Michelle Roshon was so worried that the Russians' testing of a nuclear bomb would kill Santa at the North Pole that she wrote to the one person that she felt could prevent such a disaster.
Kennedy wrote back that she need not worry. Santa would be protected and that he would make his yearly rounds on Christmas Eve. The exchange resulted in national coverage for the girl. And, several years later when some tried to tell her there was no Santa Claus, she showed proof from the President.
Caroline Kennedy included that exchange of letters in her new book, A Family Christmas. I have not read it but saw a meeting of Kennedy with that now very grown girl on Good Morning America.
I was about that girl's age in 1961 and while I had not written to Kennedy, I was certainly scared about the Russians. One month after the President announced formation of the Peace Corps in March 1961, there was that botched U.S. attempt to invade the Bay of Pigs in Cuba.
In 1962 would come the Cuban Missile Crisis and I remember standing with three teachers and being worried about World War III starting. I found a picture of the three teachers that I talked with that day in the very spot where I remember being so scared.
Instead of including that picture in this post, I've upload a photo of myself as that dorky sixth grader standing on the playground of Old Bonhomme Elementary School.
Kennedy was right about Santa; he did make his rounds on Christmas Eve 1961 and every year since (although I'm writing this on Christmas Eve day so it has not happened yet. But I am confident about tonight, too.).
When I teach Write Your Life classes or work with a client on his or her history, the major events in history resonate very deeply with them.
Michelle's story, mine and yours are examples of history not just happening to soldiers in war (as few as possible please), but to all of us. We are all shaped in one way or another by local, national and international events. History is always very personal.
Want to learn more about me? Visit my website www.lessonsfromlife.com
1 comment:
I wrote to Mrs. Kennedy shortly after President Kennedy was assassinated to express my condolences. I treasured the reply I received in the mail. Although I later realized it was a form letter, I felt as if Mrs. Kennedy had written to me personally and I read that three paragraph letter over and over. I have no idea if I ever threw the letter out-it may still be hiding somewhere in the attic.
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