MY EXCLUSIVE CLUB V

CBS, NBC, and ABC TV took to the streets on the afternoon of November 22, 1963. Their purpose was to interview people at random. Their reporters were on the streets of New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Dallas.? Why? What was going on that afternoon? They found large groups of people, black, white, men, and women of all ages along with a few teenagers all standing and all stunned.

Why? What was going on in America that afternoon?

Only a short time had passed since the news bulletin had shattered the airways: President Kennedy had been assassinated. President Kennedy was dead.

The reporters want to know the thoughts of the men and women on the streets of those cities. As they step up to the various individuals in the groups on the streets, the viewer today notices huge contrasts between the way Americans were back then and the way we are now. Back then, the groups in those cities and around the country had been Christianized.

The first thing we notice about everyone in the groups is that they're neat, well-groomed and well-dressed. The men are leaving work wearing coats and ties, topped off with a firmly in place hat. We notice that no one is sloppy in attire.

But there's more. There's something different about their demeanor. The reporter puts the microphone before each one and asks, "What are your thoughts about what has happened today?"

Their answers are calm, measured and the others in the group listen respectfully to each one who speaks. Each one waits until the reporter comes to them before they render their thoughts, each in turn. No one shouts at anyone, no one screams, no one interrupts. Two teens interviewed by a reporter, answer, "Yes, sir" when he asks if he may interview them. There are no angry words, although some say they're angry, their words don't indicate rage or anger. It is a scene of calm. Their words are subdued.

Another thing: no one, not one, uses improper grammar. They know how to speak and these average ordinary folks know how to use the English language with proper grammar. Everyone of them.

Nor was there any cursing, no language that had to be censored--this was all broadcast live from the streets of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Dallas. Back in that day, this decorum was exactly what was expected of men, women, and youth.

One woman's remarks to the television audience are of special interest. She says that what has happened is both sad and disgraceful, she says, "We are a Christian nation and such shouldn't happen in a Christian nation." (We might wish that she had said, "We're a nation highly influenced by  Christianity.")

Contrast that with what we witnessed on that November day, 2016, when the candidate almost everyone expected to win didn't. Rioting hit the streets of Portland and Oakland as Hillary Clinton supporters reacted badly to her loss,while death threats against the new president-elect flooded social media. Mobs broke windows and set cars on fire in Oakland as irate "protesters" lit flares and blocked freeways.

Students also hit the streets of Eugene and Portland, Oregon to protest against a democratic election. Demonstrators could be heard chanting obscene chants as they marched in unison. Occasionally, these marches led to riots. The walkouts by high school students, some encouraged by teachers and administrators, led to one 15-year-old Republican supporter's getting beat up by class mates, while other acts of violence took place against those who admitted to voting for the president-elect. 

Christianized American was a civil place, a place where people had respect for one another, but it's now a place only seen our our rear view mirrors, a place gone forever.