I know I am in a distinct minority but I always have admired Jackie Kennedy. A lot of people gave her shit — for being a shallow rich woman, for marrying Onassis for money, for marrying a divorced man when she acts like a Catholic and just for being rich, beautiful and sophisticated. All terrible crimes.

I was 6 years old when John Kennedy was assassinated. So much happened during those horrible days but the memories that stand out for me all involved Mrs. Kennedy. Her standing in her bloody dress while President Johnson was sworn in. Her walking in the the funeral procession with all of the national and world leaders. Her standing with her children outside the church after her husband’s funeral.

I like my heroes human and she seems like a regular human. Maybe she is a shallow rich woman. I don’t really know. It is none of my business. She had every right to behave how she wanted behind closed doors. A person’s private life should be private and, as long as this behavior doesn’t affect the public, she should be able to be an actual living, breathing and, most importantly, fallible human being. As we all are.

No human being can be a hero 24 hours a day. It is an unrealistic expectation and it diminishes heroic behavior. How would anyone fair under that kind of scrutiny? But can you do the right thing when it really matters, this is the key.

She was a regular human being who had to be something better than a regular human being for a few days. She could have whined. She could have pointed fingers. She could have behaved in a hundred different and less helpful ways during those terrible days but she rose to the challenge before her. She behaved with courage and grace and that is all we could really have asked of her. And, as a model of how a public person should behave under such duress, I know of no better behavior to model than Jackie Kennedy after her husband’s murder.

For that, I will always admire Mrs. Kennedy and that is more than enough to make her heroic.