Ever since Senator Edward Kennedy died on Tuesday, there’s been a movie playing over and over in my head.

I come from the Sixties. I believe that the day John Kennedy was murdered was the day that this country began a long slide down a slippery slope that continues to this day. I believe that by the grace of God we were giving one more chance to right our course in the person of Bobby Kennedy. When he was murdered on that June night in 1968, our fate was sealed.

My best friend growing up was Larry. We met in seventh grade, and became friends immediately. We both played guitar. We loved the same bands, and were in bands together. He was a fanatic Kinks fan. I wasn’t quite as avid, but a fan nonetheless. We were together constantly. Larry had been born with an aneurysm in the base of his brain, but that wasn’t known at the time. In fact, doctors operated on his heart when he was four years old because they thought that was the problem. He still managed to live a full life until the symptoms of his affliction began to manifest themselves when he was in his mid-thirties.

After high school, Larry left for college in Boston. Northeastern. He was a criminology major of all things, and went on to be a respected analyst for the New York State Police. I missed my friend. I had never been to Boston before, so I decided to take a ride up there and visit with him. (more…)