I was a lucky little girl to grow up in the America I knew.
An America where the Fourth of July meant decorating our bicycles with red, white, and blue crepe-paper streamers and riding through the neighborhood, proud of our handiwork and the occasion we were celebrating. Patriotism was simply part of the air we breathed. We loved our country, respected its flag, and believed being an American was something special.
I’m thinking about that little girl today.
A recent Main Street blog I wrote, How Important Is It for You to Be Right?, brought a large readership over several days and some interesting comments. One in particular has stayed with me: “Voting Against Trump was Voting for America.”
The comment sent me wandering backward through my own experience of America, trying to understand what has shaped my convictions and why I am concerned about what we may be losing.
I do not want to return to the America of my childhood, but I do want to honor what that America made possible.
Through the years, when speaking to women’s groups and book clubs, I have often urged my audiences not to allow themselves to be left behind by technology. Keep learning. Keep up with the changes. Be curious about the remarkable advancements taking place around us. I have never believed that the best of America was behind us.
Indeed, much of what has been accomplished in my lifetime fills me with wonder.
Today, artificial intelligence has found its way into my small world. When I begin to read a new book, I can ask CHAT to give me information on the author’s point of view and body of work before turning the first page.
When I consider another historic home for my House Biography Series, I can ask CHAT to research in places I wouldn’t even know about to begin to reach. Answers provided for my questions has helped me follow the threads of the house history, uncovering clues that lead to further research and discovery. I am not afraid of this extraordinary technology. I marvel at its possibilities and am determined to make good use of them.
I think of the little girl who once went to the library and searched through the card catalog, pulling out one index card after another, hoping to find the book or information she needed. How could she possibly have imagined that one day she would sit at her own desk and type, “CHAT, help me keep straight the genealogy of Henry Cabot Lodge.” What a remarkable journey.
The country that raised me also made it possible for me to move beyond the world of my mother and my childhood, to welcome changes she could scarcely have imagined, and to participate in a world that continues to astonish me.
I look backward with affection and forward with anticipation. I see no contradiction in loving the America that raised me and celebrating the America that continues to evolve.
What troubles me deeply today is the constant political warfare, the angry voices, the relentless criticism of our country. We are losing sight of the very principles that helped make America’s accomplishments possible. Patriotism, pride, respect, personal responsibility, freedom, opportunity, and a belief that tomorrow could be better than today.
The America of my childhood was not the same America experienced by every child growing up in those years. I was a privileged only child who remembers with great fondness things like my saddle shoes and my favorite camelhair polo coat. The boys took great pride in wearing their letter jackets. Driver’s education was mandatory, and the head varsity basketball coach was my instructor. And dancing cheek to cheek at a social hall dance was memorable.
I know America’s history has not been without injustice, failure, and painful chapters. Progress has meant confronting those shortcomings as well as building upon our strengths.
But must we diminish what America has accomplished in order to acknowledge where she has fallen short?
I listen to the news, much of it coming from the major East Coast broadcasting centers, and find myself troubled by the constant negativity. The America portrayed in these political arguments bears little resemblance to the country I know through my own experience. I recognize the conflicts, but I cannot accept that the anger and bitterness dominating our national conversation represents the respect we owe our country and the flag for which it stands.
I do not believe the heart of America is being represented by the voices that dominate our political arguments. I have seen too much goodness in ordinary people, too much generosity, ingenuity, and willingness to help one another, but I do believe that those angry voices, unchecked, are cause for alarm.
There is an old expression about throwing the baby out with the bathwater. I fear that in our determination to defeat one another politically, we risk doing exactly that. In our eagerness to condemn what we dislike, we may fail to recognize what deserves protecting.
Presidents come and go. Elections are won and lost. Political parties rise and fall in public favor. But the character of a country, the principles upon which it depends, and the respect its citizens have for one another must be able to outlast them all.
I return to that comment: “Voting Against Trump was Voting for America.”
I understand that someone can hold that conviction sincerely, just as I can sincerely worry about the direction our country is taking. I refuse to believe we can’t look beyond our disagreement over one man and ask a larger question. Are we so determined to be right about our political differences that we are willing to risk losing what has made America worth defending?
With the midterm elections approaching, that question seems especially important.
I was a lucky child to grow up in the America of saddle shoes, polo coats, and bicycles decorated for the Fourth of July. I am an equally fortunate woman to have lived long enough to witness the extraordinary advancements that followed.
I do not want to choose between those two Americas. They belong to the same unfolding story.
I am not asking America to return to the days of my childhood. I am asking that we not lose sight of the principles that carried us from those days to these.
