By Jim Heffernan
I sometimes wish I could remember the exact date because it was the luckiest day of my life.
It was 1963, sometime in January. I had weathered my first semester in public school and was starting a new term. I was skinny 16-year-old who sported a “duck tail” hair style tamed by an unseemly amount of “butch wax”. Caddying at the golf course made me deeply tanned.
About 25 of us were enrolled in 4th. period Ancient History class. We sat in random order at first, but were immediately arranged alphabetically. I was the last “H”, there were no “J’s” and I was seated in front of the first “K”, a cute 15-year-old girl with sandy blond hair, beautiful blue eyes and a sweet, sweet smile.
Our quirkiness led us to that fateful Ancient History class and drew us together. By the end of the week, she had my high school ring and I knew she was a terrific kisser.
I dropped out of high school 11 months later and joined the Air Force. We had an on-off courtship that lasted 4 years before we said our “for better or worse” vows in 1966 and have been together ever since.
We’ve shared a lot more laughs than tears. We’re not materially wealthy, but that’s okay, we’re happy.
We do have our differences. She’s an extremely neat and orderly person and I’m a magnet for clutter. We have reached an uneasy truce. I have my areas and she has hers. It isn’t hard to tell which is which.
Once we had very similar political beliefs, but not anymore. It seems she lost her fondness for the Democratic party years ago and I remain loyal, in spite of everything.
We both grew up with parents who lived through the Depression and WWII. They revered FDR and Harry Truman.
In 1970’s Denver we both walked all over the “Five Points/Park Hill” neighborhood knocking on doors for Pat Schroeder and George McGovern. I became a Precinct Captain and she cheered me on. Pat won, but George was trounced.
Now she avoids politics and the news. I blame her anger on the undelivered promises made by the last 3 Democratic presidents. Twice failing to elect a woman president has driven her from a simmer to a boil.
I see her point, when Donald Trump beats Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris, no way to spin it any other way, we’re a failing party.
Worse, we could be a failing country that has traded its soul for the lies we pull from our phones and screens.
Now I step softly around the subject of politics. It’s not easy. I’m obsessed. In these days, I see engaging in politics as a fight for survival.
I think the disappointment within her is shared by a big chunk of the electorate. People who don’t vote outnumber people who vote for either candidate. It’s the reason slightly more than half of the people who do vote thought Trump would be a good idea.
Whenever I slip and get too close to politics she sighs and recites her lament, “We’re doomed! I’ll always vote and I’ll always vote Democrat, but they don’t make me happy. Your precious Democrats never solve anything. They talk and talk and do nothing. Their answer is to form another committee. Our government has been sold to the highest bidder. They control the news. We’re doomed! Trump and his cronies are out to get everything and nobody stops them. What’s going to happen when our social security and Medicare are gone? We’re doomed!”
I would love to use logic and patiently explain to her how she’s wrong, but I never try. She might be right.
I am praying that the “fierce urgency of now*” might awaken us. We need to return the fervor of FDR and Harry Truman and Martin Luther King. We need to put our focus on those of us on the bottom, not just those on the top. It’s time to really care about the common good and the real problems that threaten our future. We are too easily led astray by smooth talkers and glib promises. We need more readers and thinkers and fewer watchers and listeners.
Please God, let it happen. I would love to talk politics with my wife again. I would love to see a little hope across the table.
Maybe if we all do a little, we can accomplish a lot. Maybe can return to the ideals of FDR and Harry Truman and Martin Luther King. Maybe those ideals might energize us. Maybe new ideas from writers like Eric Liu and Timothy Snyder can inspire us. Maybe we can make America a place where we care about the common good and care about what happens to our children and grandchildren. Maybe we can truly make America great again.
As always, discussion welcome at codger817@gmail.com
I don’t exercise copyright, share as you wish.
*Martin Luther King from the “I Have a Dream Speech”, 1963: “We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there “is” such a thing as being too late. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.”
