Our societies memorialize and consecrate immortalized moments in time through the building of commemorative museums.

We have visited Gettysburg, Oklahoma City, the Alamo; participated at national observances at Arlington Cemetery; and stood respectfully at many other sacred spaces. Next month, Destination Peace will visit the USS Arizona and Pearl Harbor.

Today, I stood frozen in time at the most notorious windowsill in the world. Gazing out towards the tragic Grassy Knoll area I felt deep inside of me the 10-year-old abandoned boy, frozen in suspended animation. I was paying homage to our fallen president and the unspeakable tragedy, while at the same time contemplating what happened to the hearts of America and the world around us. What seems only yesterday in its vividness simultaneously feels like a lifetime ago.

The “new” had- literally and figuratively- become old. The headline on our local newspaper, the Des Moines Register, on January 21, 1961 read “let the word go forth… the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans.” As an 8-year-old two years earlier, marking his birthday on that very day the mood was not only celebratory in our home; there was pervasive optimism in our Midwest neighborhood and, from my perception, throughout the country.

If you have never visited the Dealey Plaza National Historic Landmark and you were alive during that fateful time, I’d recommend you bring your frozen inner child for a “cathartic thawing.”

John F Kennedy Centennial, 1917-2017