A year or two ago, rather than write a “Mayor’s Message,” I provided our readers with a copy of Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken,” and I asked each of you to provide me with your interpretation of the poem, and its possible meaning for you. I received a large response from readers who found a connection with the poem and major choices in their lives. Over the last several years, I have given thought to trying to replicate this activity as I sought the perfect “vehicle” that I felt might present itself from different interpretive perspectives.
Bill Mauldin, an editorial cartoonist with the Chicago Sun-Times and two time Pulitzer Prize winner depicted what many call the “Weeping Lincoln,” following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. For many of us it symbolized the grief that many of us felt following the assassination. After its original publication, over 500,000 people, including Jackie Kennedy requested reprints of the paper showing the picture.
I recently came across the cartoon, and was immediately transported back to November 22, 1963, when as a 13 year old, I sat in my eighth grade class and heard that our president had been assassinated in Dallas, Texas. JFK’s death was like a death in the family to many of us, and sixty years later, seeing the picture of the weeping Lincoln brought back many of those memories.
For those of you old enough to remember, what impact does this picture have on you? For those of you who were not alive when Kennedy was assassinated, what meaning, if any, does this picture have for you? For any of us, is there anything that the weeping Lincoln represents in today’s world? If Mauldin was still alive, would he still have a reason to depict Lincoln weeping in his chair?
Let me know your thoughts at jmarchese@darienil.gov.