Never young again.
In Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.’s book, A Thousand Days, Daniel Patrick Moynihan is quoted recalling a conversation with the columnist Mary McGrory after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Moynihan said. “Mary McGrory said to me that we’ll never laugh again. And I said, `Heavens, Mary. We’ll laugh again. It’s just that we’ll never be young again.’” Perhaps that is the best summary of the perspective of those who are able only to watch from a distance as their country is wounded. As I look back upon that day more than a year ago, I feel old when I never did before.