When I was ten years old, my mom took me to see President John F. Kennedy. It was September of 1963. He came to Salt Lake City for a visit. I don't know why she took me, but she and her friend took me and my friend to see the President. My parents had not voted for President Kennedy. They supported Richard Nixon. (I guess it was before they realized how "tricky" he really was.) Anyway, off we went to see the President. He was to speak at the Mormon Tabernacle on Temple Square, right in the middle of all that was Mormon. Thinking back it is amazing to me how may people were there. Downtown Salt Lake City was packed. This was conservative Repulican Utah. But he was our President, and back then people thought it was cool to see and hear the leader of the nation, even if you didn't vote for him. It was too crowded for us to get into the Tabernacle or even Temple Square. It would be a while so we just decided to hang out at the west entrance of what was then Hotel Utah, hoping to get a glimpse of his car as he drove down the street. The main entrance of the hotel faced south, so we were amazed when his bubble topped car slowed down and stopped right at our entrance and he got out. We were within about five feet of the President. (Probably today an impossibility.) I don't even remember any secret service, although I'm sure they were there. He was very tall and handsome with beautiful eyes. I remember, even at ten thinking he had gorgeous eyes. He looked straight into my eyes and smiled and waved and was gone into the hotel.
It was just two months later as I sat in the lunch room in my school that the nation heard the horrifying events unfolding in Dallas. The nation came together mourning the loss of this bright young man. Of course we were innocent back then and didn't know his whole story. Maybe that is when we started coming out of some of the innocence. Sadly. Knowledge is always good, but knowledge can lead to judgement and judgement is not good. My point in relaying all this is that I was brought up in a gentler time. I was brought up to love my country, to respect leaders, to exercise my right to vote. If the leader isn't doing what they should, vote him or her out and start over again. That love of country that was instilled in me by my parents and grandparents. The heritage that was given to me, the history that I studied and so admired in our countries founders gave me a foundation as I grew up in a new unsettled society. A society where people burned the flag I loved and scoffed at leaders, where leaders eventually felt as if they could do and say anything and get away with it. The dream the founding fathers had, the dream my ancestors, my grandparents, and parents carried always with them seemed to be eroding. In many cases leaders seemed to become arrogant rather than humble, people seemed to think things were owed to them. The younger generation could be heard saying that things were better elsewhere! How could this be?
When my son was going through his roughest times, sometimes he would just be too ill emotionally to carry on. He just couldn't go on one more day. I would suggest that he go to bed, as if he had the flu, for two maybe three days, no longer. He needed to rest his body and mind and allow himself to heal without feeling guilty. But on the third day he had to get up and get going. The "flu" would be gone and he just had to get on with his life with renewed enthusiasm. I think everyone goes through times like this in their lives. At different times we all need to have a touch of "the flu." We need to rest, meditate, take inventory, we need "to pause". To find our footing again, to be sure of where we are going and then have the enthusiasm to move toward the goal. Maybe right now our Country has a bit of "the flu." Maybe she has been laying down for her two days, resting, trying to figure out what her next step is. But the next part is to really pause, to take inventory and evaluate. What direction do we want to take? Where do we want to go? There are so many possibilities, there are so many problems. But haven't there always been problems? What makes America great? Oh, thats right; we have smart young people who solve problems, who are just waiting to be heard. America has gone through dark hours before, but has always emerged like a roaring lion letting the world know we are here. But the lion must learn to lay down with the lamb as well. To be great, one must be humble and I feel that is one of America's biggest problems. She's become too arrogant and prideful. The founding fathers may have had their personal issues, but their love of country was bigger than themselves. It had to be or they couldn't have accomplished what they did. When they served the country, they served for the country. How many of our leaders really serve the country? How many of us really serve our country, really love and cherish our country the way my grandparents and your grandparents did? America has the flu, and I certainly don't know how to make her well. I'm just a middle aged, baby boomer, wife, mother, grandmother. But as I have learned in my life and seen in others, as I have studied history and read in the scriptures, when people get too full of themselves, too prideful, when everybody has too much of everything and they can't go without anything then things start going wrong. For some reason we always have to be pulled back in and taught a lesson. Maybe America's lesson is that our leaders need to be more honest and love America better than they do themselves. Maybe America's citizens all need to learn to sacrifice a little bit and teach their children that it is ok to not have everything handed to them and to actually let them go work those minimum wage jobs to help pay for things like cars and school. Maybe then those children would grow to appreciate those things and not take them for granted. Maybe then those jobs would stay in America. Maybe it is time for Americans to start loving America again. To appreciate her beauty, her intelligence, her welcoming arms. Maybe it is time for those who come to America to embrace America, to bring their beautiful culture and integrate it into America, but to become Americans by learning the language and abiding by the laws of this amazing country. Maybe it is time for all to become humble, to be grateful for what has been given to us. To realize the great sacrifice that has gone before to get us where we are. Maybe it is time for America to stuff pride in the garbage can and stop blaming everybody else, and start working together as a people who love their country and want more than anything to leave a legacy like our forbearers left us. Maybe it is time to remember who we are and where we came from. We are the United States of America. We should be united in making this country great whatever direction that takes. The leaders that stand out in my mind weren't great because of their politics or their political party. Their party didn't matter. They were great because they had the power to unite the country. They had a cause that was good and just. That's what makes America the great nation that it is. Being united in a cause that is good and just. So America, it is time to get up, you've rested long enough. You've talked about, mulled over, thought about the problems until everybody has "the flu." America needs a leader who will unite her and America needs to stand united behind her leader ready to go forward into the future stronger, better, brighter, with more humility, with gratitude for blessings pouring over her mountains, valleys, rivers and streams.
And above all her people.
1 comment:
What a treasured memory!
Post a Comment