President Kennedy was living daily with so much pain, from his Addison’s disease and colitis, along with back pain from a deteriorating spine and back surgery, that it took over 12 medications and seven injections a day along with a back brace, just to keep him going …
He couldn’t even bend over to put his shoes on…
The fact that he even got out of bed was a miracle …
I often find my self thinking about how he projected youth and vitality and strength and change…
This ability to challenge people to be better…
He refused to wear an overcoat on his Inauguration Day
Needing to project youth and strength…
He understood probably better than any of us the power of images and what they do
And the power of
Media ….
This was before an assassination
And before America lost touch with itself
And lost faith in itself
We know how the story ends
We know all the things that he started
However he is forever fixed in our minds as he worked so hard to be fixed …
Young and filled with hope.
Change is something uncomfortable
Courage, Virtue and faith is something vital to our existence …
As Joan Didion said the center is not holding…
It seems we’ve lost ourselves
And our faith
We don’t trust even our own instinct
From my side of the mountain
After struggling with Crohn’s
Divorce
Moving and changing careers
Getting sober…
I can only say
I’m writing this on the side of new beginnings
And the shadows we fight against
Just within ourselves
The urge to run
To just forget about the cost
To just forget about the thing
To cop out…
The ability to rebuild yourself
To trust yourself
To reach for change
To stay true to your convictions
Is courageous in and of itself
But it is a future worth fighting for
Worth staying for
Worth getting up in the morning for …
So keep your hope
And build
Brick by brick
And line by line
Create a future
And a home
You would like your children to come home to…
Because it’s worth the fight
Even if you hide your shadows and your struggles
Your pain…
You can still build …
It is the courage to continue in the face of everything ….that counts…


