Could you imagine....

[Tonichelle]

I am watching the videos for my Civil War class and I'm on the last one when it's talking about Lincoln's assasination.

Could you imagine being in that situation... you've gone 4+ years in a war that was unimaginable and nightmarish. To hearing it's over and let's try and rebuild and heal... and then the next thing you know the President is assasinated.

I mean I know other presidents have been shot and others killed... but could you imagine going through so much carnage only to have it end with more.....

 

[Ptichka]

The only think I can compare this to is the shock of Itzak Rabin's assassination. Rather, a double shock of finding out about the assassination, and then finding out it was done by an Israeli Jew. Sadly, if Ariel Sharon were assassinated today, I would be perhaps just as upset, but far less shocked.

 

[Tonichelle]

The only think I can compare this to is the shock of Itzak Rabin's assassination. Rather, a double shock of finding out about the assassination, and then finding out it was done by an Israeli Jew. Sadly, if Ariel Sharon were assassinated today, I would be perhaps just as upset, but far less shocked.

Unfortunately i have no clue as to who Itzak Rabin is... care to inform me?? I am one of those typical Americans, I barely remember our own history (ok so Civil War I am pretty good at, but the rest is like forget it I'll get confused)

 

[iluvtodd]

Toni, Itzhak Rabin was the prime minister of Israel at the time of his assassination, back in the fall of 1995.

During Skate America 1995 Israeli skater Michael Shmerkin dedicated his performance to his memory. .

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Rabin was a man of peace.

Joe

 

[Tonichelle]

Toni, Itzhak Rabin was the prime minister of Israel at the time of his assassination, back in the fall of 1995.

During Skate America 1995 Israeli skater Michael Shmerkin dedicated his performance to his memory. .

ok I was 10... so I have an excuse... no 10 year old watches teh news

 

[Ladskater]

John Lennon finally finding inner peace and then being killed by a maniac...."Imagine."

 

[heyang]

I think FDR died before the end of WWII. He didn't live to see the post war boom in the US economy, world power and population.

 

[Grgranny]

I still remember hearing about FDR's death. I was staying late from class trying to get a typing paper out. As much as I disliked him, I was sorry he wasn't around to see the end of the war. I still resent him starting that war.

 

[Ptichka]

Unfortunately i have no clue as to who Itzak Rabin is... care to inform me?? I am one of those typical Americans, I barely remember our own history (ok so Civil War I am pretty good at, but the rest is like forget it I'll get confused)

Here is Wikipedia's page on Rabin. He was a very distinguished military man who fought for the Jews back before Israel even existed, and eventually becoming Chief of Staff of IDF (Israel Defense Force). After becoming a prime minister in 1992, he secretly initiated talks with Arafat; this culminated in the Oslo accords (and a Nobel prize for Rabin). He was assassinated in 1995 by Yigal Amir.

I think a parallel with Lincoln is quite in order here. Lincoln had a vision for reconstruction of how to make peace after the carnage of war. Since he was assassinated, others (who often had no clue) did it instead. Rabin certainly had a vision for the two nations, Israelis and Palestinians, and of how to make peace after the carnage of intifada. While I am not sure things would have turned out differently had he stayed alive, I think there is a very good chance they would have. Both man took part in the wars - Lincoln as the one directing it, Rabin as the one often directing how to put down the intifada. Both knew they'd have to deal with people they detested. Yet they both understood that a chance for peace and prosperity for both sides was worth the risk. Neither man was a dreamer; they both saw quite clearly the high chance of failure; I think that was what made both of them so effective. They were both visionaries whose assassins deprived them of the chance to make those visions realities.