When the planes hit the Twin Towers in New York on Sept. 11, 2011, I was en route to, then at, Tampa International Airport for my flight back to Atlanta. With other family members I had just celebrated my Mom's 85th birthday in Lakeland, Fl -- about 36 miles from the major airport. Tampa International is just a few miles for the US Central Command Headquarters, and I knew that, as America was under attack. Yes, I was tense and worried; the airport lay under lockdown with every single plane standing still. It was bizarre.
What did I do? I called my Mom, of course, and was amazed at her response. "Oh, honey, don't worry; we'll get through this. After all, we've gotten through so much already" (Depression, World War II, Korean War, civil rights upheaval, and more).
And, as bad as it all seemed, we did get through it. I stayed at the airport for three days hoping for a flight out when it became clear that wasn't going to happen any time soon. So, I caught a cab from the airport to the Greyhound Station, to bus back to my home in Atlanta. Oh, the Muslim driver and I had an interesting conversation on the way; he told me he was scared silly to be a Muslim at that time, and I commiserated, knowing how it felt to be unjustly singled out.
Well, we're in dire straits again, facing the threat of democracy's demise from a President who seems increasingly anti-American. While my Mom's gone on to her heavenly reward, the reassuring voice today comes from Harvard-educated Prof. Heather Cox Richardson, who teaches political history at Boston University.
"History suggests the game is not yet lost", she said. "Three times before, in the 1850s, the 1890s, and the 1920s, oligarchs took over the American government and threatened to destroy democracy. In each case, they overreached, and regular folks took back their government."
Now it's time for us all to take back our government and values, and to become real America again. Real America is diverse, patriotic, hard-working, courageous and persevering. We don't whimper and whine when there's work to be done, and Lord knows, work needs to be done now, in helping people to register for the vote and, in November, to getting them to the polls to vote America back again. Let's do this together, folks; it's the American way!
Those of our political leaders and the people who fund them, who are obstructionists, pale in the shadow of Nelson Mandela. He was everything they are not, and their legacy will reflect the difference. Mandela lived by principle, and he also lived by steel-minded moral discipline to keep private his fury at the injustice of his 27-year incarceration. His driving force was to unify his explosively divided South Africa, and create a society based on the good of all; but in America the self-interest of our obstructionist politicians and their backers seem to drive them to keep America stagnantly divided. Our division is between the haves and have nots.
The good of our country is not on their radar; they lack the will to unify America and move us forward. While they also lack much of the integrity that results from principle-driven lives, they have plenty of the steel-willed determination to unbendingly serve their own interests. They are as different from Nelson Mandela as black is from white.
While Pres. Obama is striving to move America forward by exercising a number of Mandela's similar qualities, he seems to lack one key element that enabled Mandela to succeed despite his opposition. In addition to his public commitment to forgiveness and reconciliation, Mandela could listen -- deeply and interactively -- and thereby find points of agreement to build on.
And that brings us to you and me. We have two clearly defined models on which to base our legacy. Which will we choose for our next generations? Who will our children see as the heroes and role models of our generation? What values and skills will we pass on to them? They'll certainly make the judgment on who they should emulate, and who made the best world for them.
Of course, if you see you're not going to measure up, it's not too late to change. If you are of the obstructionist/winning at all costs frame of mind, are you man enough and woman enough to acknowledge that that approach hasn't worked, and to start living by principles of integrity, including accountability, and to demand that politicians you elect do the same? Are you up to learning to listen interactively, and start looking for points of agreement in your opposition's side? To lead by consensus, as Mandela did?
History will decide how well we've done. In the coming days, we'll see a number of world leaders flock to South Africa to pay tribute to the tall black man who brought his country socially into modern times by teaching his people to get along, despite his personal feelings. When America's political leaders and backers eventually pass on, who will flock to pay them tribute? That will be one measure of how tall they stood. And, when each of us passes on, what legacy will we leave to succeeding generations? It's in our hands to leave them the very best. Or not to.
The good of our country is not on their radar; they lack the will to unify America and move us forward. While they also lack much of the integrity that results from principle-driven lives, they have plenty of the steel-willed determination to unbendingly serve their own interests. They are as different from Nelson Mandela as black is from white.
While Pres. Obama is striving to move America forward by exercising a number of Mandela's similar qualities, he seems to lack one key element that enabled Mandela to succeed despite his opposition. In addition to his public commitment to forgiveness and reconciliation, Mandela could listen -- deeply and interactively -- and thereby find points of agreement to build on.
And that brings us to you and me. We have two clearly defined models on which to base our legacy. Which will we choose for our next generations? Who will our children see as the heroes and role models of our generation? What values and skills will we pass on to them? They'll certainly make the judgment on who they should emulate, and who made the best world for them.
Of course, if you see you're not going to measure up, it's not too late to change. If you are of the obstructionist/winning at all costs frame of mind, are you man enough and woman enough to acknowledge that that approach hasn't worked, and to start living by principles of integrity, including accountability, and to demand that politicians you elect do the same? Are you up to learning to listen interactively, and start looking for points of agreement in your opposition's side? To lead by consensus, as Mandela did?
History will decide how well we've done. In the coming days, we'll see a number of world leaders flock to South Africa to pay tribute to the tall black man who brought his country socially into modern times by teaching his people to get along, despite his personal feelings. When America's political leaders and backers eventually pass on, who will flock to pay them tribute? That will be one measure of how tall they stood. And, when each of us passes on, what legacy will we leave to succeeding generations? It's in our hands to leave them the very best. Or not to.