American Greatness

Kids, as I process the turmoil our country is in, the division, the protests, the death of individuals at the hands of federal agents and the response from both political sides, a spectrum of emotions emerge. I see opinions and anger that push division and hatred of the other side. Most of all, this makes me feel deeply sad and disheartened. I love this country. I love that we value Justice and goodness and we care about each other. But those ties that bind us together seem to be frayed or altogether loosened. Currently, the Political phrase “MAGA” or Make America Great Again is divisive and evokes anger or hatred from the political left. The right in turn demonizes the left.

I am not going to convince anyone of one political viewpoint or another with this article, but I do want to share two stories which demonstrate American goodness and maybe point to an answer to all the division. Both stories come from the aptly named “Greatest Generation.”

When your Grandpa was in politics, he would go door to door and meet hundreds if not thousands of constituents. One elderly woman invited him for water. He described her as older, little, pleasantly wrinkled, and she had a German accent. She told him a story about how she became an American. She was a girl about 11 or 12 towards the end of WWII. And she lived in a little village. Her parents were away when the American Army pulled into her town. She was terrified. She didn’t know anything about America or the War All she knew is that these were soldiers and soldiers killed. So, she did the only thing she knew to do: she hid her little brother in a bedroom and locked the door. Several US Troops came to her house and asked if there was anyone else inside. She said no. They could tell she wasn’t being truthful and they entered the house and searched. She watched in horror as they checked the locked door her brother was behind. They asked her “who’s in there?” She pleaded with them and said, “no one, no one!” They broke the lock and went in. She expected to hear gun fire, but what she heard instead was laughter. She was shocked when an America GI came out with her brother on his shoulders. Her brother was joyfully eating a chocolate candy bar. These American soldiers were different, they were kind and good they laughed with the boy and moved on. From that moment on, she knew she wanted to be an American, and when she was old enough, she came here to start a life.

When I think of this story, I think of the pictures of my Grandpa in his uniform, the twinkle he always had in his eye when joking with his Grandkids. He embodied strength and goodness, as did thousands of others from that generation.

The second story is from a novel called, “The Boys in the Boat” which described the 1936 Olympic rowing team from Washington State. The novel begins with a focus on the poor Joe Rantz, who grew up during the great depression and later joined a rowing team. The book talks about the unassuming and quiet character these boys had: their strength, their determination. Their goodness. They took this character with them to Germany and against all odds these boys defeated the proud Nazis, right in front of Hitler. The author, Daniel James Brown, wrote,

“Standing there watching them, it occurred to me that when Hitler watched Joe and the boys fight their way back from the rear of the field to sweep ahead of Italy and Germany seventy-five years ago, he saw, but did not recognize heralds of his doom. He could not have known that one day hundreds of thousands of boys just like them, boys who shared their essential natures--decent and unassuming, not privileged or favored by anything in particular, just loyal, committed, and perseverant--would return to Germany dressed in olive drab, hunting him down."They are almost all gone now--the legions of young men who saved the world in the years just before I was born. But that afternoon, standing on the balcony of Haus West, I was swept with gratitude for their goodness and their grace, their humility and their honor, their simple civility and all the things they taught us before they flitted across the evening water and finally vanished into the night.”

I don’t have an answer to all the division in the Country right now. But, I think remembering that kindness, character, and unity triumph over division, deception, and hate. Goodness and love are at the center of what has made America great. As we say often to you kids, the only thing we control is our own behavior. Maybe that is enough. Choose to love your neighbor as yourself. Choose kindness over fear. That’s who we are as Americans. I’ll end with J.R.R. Tolkien’s famous quote,

“Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love."