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The temperature outside was nearing 90 degrees. However, a sudden chill ran through my body. This goosebump moment had nothing to do with the weather. It was something that just came across every social media and news outlet within earshot of where I was having dinner with several family members that brought about my condition.
It was the moment the press was screaming out the fact that former President Donald Trump had been grazed by a bullet from a would-be assassin. Then seeing the footage of the shooting at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania that took at least one innocent life and injured numerous others, was even more gut-wrenching.
The bloody face, the scramble to help the injured and the rush of Secret Service people was a lot to take in and absorb. And what it did, in addition to giving me the chills, was bring back the dark memories of President John F. Kennedy's assassination. Even as a child, it comes back with intense clarity of that time in our history.
But it didn't end with Kennedy. Martin Luther King Jr. and Kennedy's younger brother Bobby, met similar fates at the hands of evil-doers with their fingers on the triggers. Then, right before our eyes, President Kennedy's presumed killer was shot and killed on live TV. Talk about shock TV, it didn't get any more real than that -- until now.
Modern technology has brought us instant everything, good and bad. That includes terrible, not-for-the-children's eyes stuff that can give nightmares to those with even the strongest nerves and emotional well-being.
By the time you read this column, there will be more and more information about the assassination attempt on Trump. We will know more about the shooter who lost his own life as a result of his actions. We will have heard speeches from President Biden and from those at the Republican National Convention.
At this time in our nation's history, we will need more than speeches to bring about the unity both Republicans and Democrats are crying for.
If this latest event in our history doesn't bring about some change in our divisive election process, then I don't know what will.
It shouldn't matter if you are for or against Donald Trump. No one should be a target in such a violent way. Bullies should be dealt with before they can do their damage.
It's up to all of us, not just two men, not just two parties.
As I complete this column, the mercury outside is pushing 90 degrees once again. The only chill I want to feel today is at the end of a banana twin pop. I can only hope ...
Heather Ziegler can be reached via email at hziegler@theintelligencer.net.