Entry for November 22, 2008

When I was 10 years old, JFK was shot on this day, November 22. That was 45 years ago, so anyone not about my age or so probably doesn't have much (if any memory) of JFK, other than documentaries.

I thought he talked funny, saying words in his distinctive Cape Cod accent- Cu-ber for Cuba, and so forth. I remember the civil defense drills we did in school the previous year, now a time more colorfully known as the Missiles of October...a time where we all were so close to obliteration even people like my dad were scared.

10 years later, I was strolling through Arlington, and came to the site where he is buried, with the eternal flame.

Much to my horror, a man put his child over the rope surrounding the sight, extolling the child to go sit next to the headstone, for a photo. I erupted in a fit of not yelling, but commentary that embarassed the man, and likely everyone around me, as I told the guy what I thought ogf his utter ignorance and lack of civility in putting a child on the grave site of a fallen national leader, and in general being a, well, major asshole...which caused the guy i was with to be a little embarassed, but he did join in and asked to guy to get his kid out of there.

When I lived in Germany, I was surprised at how loved Kennedy had been by the Germans, in particular in Berlin where he had uttered the "Iche bin ein Berliner" line. The story goes that he should have said "Ich bin Berliner" ("I am a citizen of Berlin"), and that "Ich bin ein Berliner" really means "I am a jelly doughnut." (A "Berliner" is in fact a type of jelly doughnut made in Berlin.) One of my German instructors even claimed this is true, and I once saw it published in a major American magazine, although I forget which one.

I found myself having drinks with a German , so I asked her the question. She said that it is certainly not true. President Kennedy said the phrase absolutely correctly, although possibly with a thick American accent. It seems that the German language is simply not that trivial — it has subtleties that very few non-native speakers grasp. She said that if President Kennedy had said "Ich bin Berliner," he would have sounded silly because with his heavy accent he couldn't possibly have come from Berlin. But by saying "Ich bin ein Berliner," he actually said "I am one with the people of Berlin." This is her exact translation as best I can remember it.