Posted on 07/20/2009 8:18:15 AM PDT by presidio9
High up in the clouds, John F. Kennedy Jr. discovered a serenity and peace that often eluded him on the ground.
"The sunset is so beautiful," he radioed his flight instructor on his first solo flight in 1996. "Can I go around one more time?"
Permission was granted. And for the next three years, Kennedy escaped the burden of being the son of a beloved slain President, the burden of being a sex symbol hounded by paparazzi, by soaring above it all.
But tragedy is the Kennedy family curse. In retrospect, it no longer shocks or surprises that the thing that gave Kennedy so much joy would be his downfall.
Still, when Kennedy's single-engine Piper Saratoga vanished on a summer night 10 years ago, it was stunning.
Many Americans sat in front of their TVs for hours as searchers scoured the waters off Martha's Vineyard for the plane.
And when the bodies of Kennedy, his young wife, Carolyn Bessette, and her sister, Lauren, were finally found, grief again galvanized a nation that never really got over Camelot.
"From the first day of his life, John seemed to belong not only to our family, but to the American family," his uncle, Sen. Ted Kennedy said in his eulogy.
He also belonged to New York and the Tribeca neighborhood, where Kennedy lived and worked in his last years - and where the grieving was keenest. His apartment building at 20 N. Moore St. became a shrine.
"I can't believe that something like this could happen, again, to the Kennedy family," then-mayor Rudy Giuliani said, speaking for us all.
Kennedy was just 38 when he died, but for the generation that mourned his father he would always be the 3-year-old boy in shorts saluting the casket bearing the body of his dad, President John F. Kennedy.
He was forever John-John, a nickname Kennedy detested, the brave boy whose gesture captured a nation's sorrow.
Kennedy refused to be trapped by the past - or by expectations that came with being JFK's son.
Being famous for being famous - or having a pretty face - was not enough. He wanted to make his own mark in the world.
"It was important for me to go outside the arena for a number of reasons," he said after launching his magazine, George. "I think everyone needs to feel that they've created something that was their own, on their own terms."
After JFK's assassination, his mother, Jackie Kennedy, decided Washington - and all its sad memories - was no place to raise her son and daughter, Caroline. She decamped for New York and home became a 15-room apartment on Fifth Ave.
Riding the subway, biking and roller-blading in Central Park, Kennedy grew up a city kid. Upper crust, to be sure, but a city kid to the bone. He even got mugged for his bike at 13.
Projectile Vomit Alert!
Yawn.
Thank you.
The “Kennedy Curse” again! He needed more training before he took that last flight. It was an error in judgement which has been at the bottom of all incidents that make up the “Kennedy Curse”.
A victim of “sins of the father”. The father being Joe Kennedy.
Yup, those Kennedys are real gods.
Can’t drive.
Can’t ski.
Can’t fly.
Most certainly can’t hold a real job anywhere.
And...they’ll sc*ew anything that gives ‘em a chance.
Gads, am I impressed.
Gag me with a spoon.
Couldn’t pass the bar and piloted without preperation into a sky most seasoned pilots would never go into, killing himself and two others. Yeah, this guy was brilliant, alright...too bad “UNCLE TED” wasn’t with him instead...
His life was a pitiful waste unless it shows others the futility of vanity (”it's all about me”) under the sun vs humbleness (”it's all about Him”) (Matt.22-36-40) in the Son.
It is ironic the JFK jr died in somewhat the same way as Mary Jo Kopeckne(sp?).
He seemed like a nice enough young man but the deification of every Kennedy, no matter how venal or underachieving they are/were, is nauseating.
I would never get in a plane or a car with a Kennedy. They are definitely cursed. I guess fortune attained illegally and not standing up for the unborn even though they are America’s Catholic family has consequences.
Amen. A bootlegger & inside trader at the very least.
Shameless toadying like this has a great future somewhere in the ‘Bama Administration or the ‘Rat party.
(Gotta go embrace the porcelain convenience, see ya.)
Thank you! I need that “two minutes of hate” occasionally.
“...JFK Jr. bore the mantle of fame with grace and energy...”
I guess “GRACE” and “ENERGY” were the secret service code names for Marilyn Monroe and Angie Dickenson, who he was banging regularly in the White House.
If he had run in NYC, as a REPUBLICAN as the rumors went, it would have destroyed her chances of being a Senator and, would have greatly harmed the Democrats.
Hillary probably sent the Flying Monkeys to dispatch the Piper Saratoga.
“It is ironic the JFK jr died in somewhat the same way as Mary Jo Kopeckne(sp?)”
Interesting observation. The Kennedy family is not up there in the ranks of mentalists, are they? One must wonder just how low Harvard standards have sunk.
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