Just after July 4, Adam Kinzinger wrote an essay that gave me much hope for our nation. Instead of listing all of the problems that we have, which are many, he spoke of the remarkable progress and determination of the American people over the last two hundred fifty years. His piece reminded me of the kind of ideas that my grandfather mentioned every single time we visited him. I suppose that I always left his home feeling refreshed and optimistic because he had such a positive way of viewing the world, and in particular, the United States.
Grandpa was born in 1878 somewhere along the North Carolina and Virginia border. His mother was Marion Roarke Mack, or so he was told by relatives. He never knew her because she died of complications from giving birth three days after he was born. Grandpa’s father was William Mack, a man who became frightened at the prospect of raising a child alone so he put his baby boy in the back of a wagon and high tailed it to his mother’s home in Virginia. There he left my grandfather with a woman who would raise him into his teens.
Sarah Reynolds taught Grandpa to read and write and made sure that he had good manners. She showed him how to combine herbs to create medicines for neighbors who lovingly called her Doc Reynold’s. She died when Grandpa was only thirteen and left him a small inheritance. He chose an uncle, John Little, to be his official guardian but mostly he set out on his own like young boys often did back then. Because his Uncle John Little was an honorable man and a graduate of the Military academy of West Point Grandpa changed his name to William Mack Little, the moniker that he had when I was born.
Grandpa was a progressive who fully appreciated the evolution of the United States. He remembered a time when he first saw a town that was lit my electricity and he marvelled over the brilliance of Orville and Wilbur Wright who conquered the sky with their plane. Grandpa saw the history of modern America unfold year by year, invention by invention and he liked to say that current times were “the good old days.”
Grandpa had seen hunger, disease, men and women who were desperate at a time when wealthy men ruled the roost. He appreciated the changes that brought improvements in our government for the common folk. He loved to read about history and quote his heroes like Thomas Jefferson. He just missed going to war but he had great admiration for those who supported our nation. He appreciated Franklin Roosevelt for creating programs that would help American citizens. He was overjoyed when Medicare became a program that would save others from using all of their savings when someone became ill like he had to do for my grandmother. He cheered the Civil Rights movement and insisted that even when things look horrible we Americans find ways to keep our country moving forward in a way that includes everyone.
I have been feeling down since Donald Trump became president again. I doubt that my grandfather would have voted for him. Trump represents the destruction of so many of the things that Grandpa insisted were important for the people of the United States. He would have been upset by the return of super wealthy oligarchs who think that they know best how to take care of America. He had seen the depression during the Gilded Age when people were starving and a man named Coxey created an army of people willing to march across the land to Washington D.C. to protest the hunger of far too many in the nation.
Grandpa was a well read and learned man even though he did not get very far in school. He knew what was communism and what was not and found the “Red Scare” of McCarthyism to be dangerously absurd. He would have recognized Donald Trump’s latest accusations that Democrats are communists as a way to cover the problems that he has created. He would also assure me that we will eventually find our way back to the kind of leaders who work together to create a better world for all Americans, not just certain ones who have the right complexion or pedigree.
Adam Kinzinger’s essay was uplifting just like Grandpa had always been My grandfather died at the age of one hundred eight when I was in my forties. It’s been a very long time since I had the benefit of sitting with him while he smoked his pipe and spread wisdom and information that always kept me calm. I miss him but need to hark back to his story once again. He was an American through and through but he realized that our work is never done and that looking backwards and attempting to emulate a time that has passed is rarely a good thing. It is in the amazing progress and evolution of the last two hundred fifty years that we have become a better and better nation. The very idea of going backwards would have been anathema to Grandpa and so it is to me.
I feel a bit better now. Like Adam Kinzinger I believe that we Americans always find a way to find repair the damage of anyone who tears down the ideals and progress that are the continual thread of our history. The only catch is that each of us must make it happen by paying attention and casting our votes. There is no time for simply complaining while a man is spending his time as president enriching himself and his family, while tearing down so much that is good about his nation. We all have work to do to move forward once again.
All It Takes Is A Little Love 