Abraham Lincoln Assassination

The footage seen in this video is said to be 16mm film from April 14, 1865 when
President Abraham Lincoln was shot in Ford?s Theatre. Whether or not this real footage
from the event cannot be determined, but the overall scene of the film gives an accurate
description to the event and setting at the time. When I watched this video and saw John
Wilkes Booth casually walk up behind the president and shoot him from point blank range it seemed a little unrealistic. However after researching about it I discovered that this truly appears to be how it happened. Trying to imagine this today would be nearly
impossible due to all the security and protection that constantly surrounds the president
at all times. Clearly times have changed but when I first saw the video it was
unbelievable that someone could simply approach the president and then proceed to shoot
him from close range. After the thought that it actually did happen sunk in and I was able to realize that I began to wonder about the immediate result and what happened to Booth. Apparently he escaped and was caught later in a barn, which was burned to the ground, but it all seems so unreal and impossible after seeing the type of precautions that are taken with the president today. It makes me think about the level of trust we as humans have for one another today compared to 1865 when everyone seemed trustworthy unless they displayed otherwise. It appears to me, that as a society we tend to expect the worst in people and live our lives protecting ourselves from harm. Clearly we have many reasons to do this, but it simply is not right that we constantly expect people to do wrong and intentionally harm others. What happened to the times when everyone was neighborly and helpful for nothing more than a smile or friend in reward. Clearly our views have changed for the worst and we can do nothing but try to think of a way to better shelter ourselves from it. It seems we have reached our peak in the race for civilization and are on the downward slide back towards a life in the wild game of survival of the fittest.