Take Time to Think.
I have been very fortunate in my life to have made some healthy, wise and valuable choices. The obvious of course - my husband and children. But. then there were those choices that required more compromise and negotiating with husband and family as to time spent. These are interesting words - ‘time spent.’ An interesting quote from a master.
“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing."
Compromise and negotiation are also interesting words. ‘Compromise is a basic negotiation process in which both parties give up something that they want in order to get something else they want more.’ This definition has been an absolute for me. I knew as a young married that I needed the freedom to express myself while at the same time being committed to building a quality marriage filled with love, fun and productivity.
These choices were easier than I would have thought. I learned what is meant by sharing your beliefs in marriage. It was early in our marriage that I started to read about the advantages of equal partnership. I studied the writings of researcher John Gottman and I found my comfort zone for life. One of John’s beliefs was that husbands who accept their wives’ influence are four times less likely to divorce or have an unhappy marriage. We bought into that - it worked for us.
Jerry was wise enough to know what the ‘equal rights amendment’ meant even before I sucessfully lobbied for the passage. You know the overused saying, ‘the happy wife is a happy life.‘ It all centers around respect for those differences. Agreed?
One area in which we always agreed and that was our sense and love for the spirit of democracy. In 1980, an article was written in The Indianapolis Star about my professional volunteerism career - I was asked how I knew Jerry was the right man for me and without hesitation responded, ‘he was a democrat and a feminist and a great dancer.’
Last week, I picked up the NYTimes to read my favorite journalist - David Brooks. He was writing about just that - democracy and politics. He wrote:
“We live in an anti-political moment, when many people -- young people especially - think politics is a low, nasty, corrupt and usually fruitless business. It's much nobler to do community service or just avoid all that putrid noise.”
He went on to say. “I hope everybody who shares this anti-political mood will go out to see "Lincoln." The movie portrays the nobility of politics in exactly the right way. It shows that you can do more good in politics than in any other sphere. You can end slavery, open opportunity and fight poverty. But you can achieve these things only if you are willing to stain your own character in order to serve others -- if you are willing to bamboozle, trim, compromise and be slippery and hypocritical. The challenge of politics lies precisely in the marriage of high vision and low cunning. The hero has a high moral vision, but he also has the courage to take morally hazardous action in order to make that vision a reality.”
This article gave me clarity as to why I loved politics - He made it very clear to me. My career in politics started with The Children’s Defense Fund and the beautiful Marianne Wright Edelman and ended up with a decade of service to Indiana governors. I never felt helpless in the face of obstacles. It was always that challenge I loved and being a tiny speck on that great stage still remains a love. Just being that small speck in reaching success for California’s voting for education funding was a wow for me. My government friends in Indiana called and asked ‘were you involved in that vote?’
This Brooks’ article gave me some time to think about who through the years had the greatest influence on me - whether or not I was aware at the time or not, at this moment in time I can look back and remember.
Who immediately comes to mind was Lyndon Johnson. It was during his administration that I served as President of the National Council of Jewish Women in Indianapolis. Our organization accepted the challenges he presented through the War on Poverty. We had an opportunity to advocate and educate in response to a national poverty rate of around nineteen percent. Johnson believed in expanding the government's role in education and health care as poverty reduction strategies. The legacy of the War on Poverty policy initiative remains in the continued existence of such federal programs as Head Start, Volunteers in Service to America and Job Corps.
And then for me, came John F. Kennedy - Oh, I was a Camelot devotee. I remember attending a Boston College medical school dance and there was this gorgeous young Congressman coming to the microphone. My Dad and I shared a love for politics so I immediately called him in New York and I remember my words, ‘I just met a future President.’ So lucky were we to have him albeit so little time.
The term "Camelot" was applied by ‘Jackie’ Kennedy. Camelot refers to the seat of the court of the legendary King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and a place or time of idyllic happiness. She described the years of her husband's presidency as an American Camelot, a period of hope and optimism in U. S. history, and asked that his memory be preserved.
His Presidency was cut short right before our eyes but his accomplishments served to set a valuable framework for progress.
For me, his call for Americans to serve their country has remained an inspiring and memorable appeal. It was this call that gave structure to my adult careers. He gave us the Peace Corps, a way for volunteers to travel overseas to make real differences in the lives of real people. Laws were put in place to end segregation in interstate travel facilities. He issued an executive order prohibiting discrimination in the sale or lease of housing that was financed by federally guaranteed loans or owned by the federal government. Great moves in such limited time.
John Kennedy reminded us that the arts are an essential part of life. At his inauguration he asked Robert Frost to read a poem, and invited more than 50 of the country's outstanding writers, artists and composers to attend the ceremonies. Bill Clinton, even as Governor of Arkansas, has expressed his belief that each child conceals an original and passionate voice and that by offering the arts freely to every child everywhere, "we invest in our future as a country." Maya Angelou, at Bill Clinton's request, was the first poet since Robert Frost to read at a Presidential inauguration.
For me, my time with him was indeed Camelot - I see it every time I watch “West Wing” and now with the new “Newsroom.”
I had just came off the ‘Lincoln’ movie high and I started looking for similarities between Lincoln and Kennedy. So here goes:
Abraham Lincoln and John Kennedy were two of the most well-known presidents that the United States of America ever had. Not that too many US presidents ever passed without a mention, but Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy were still the most famous, particularly due to their personalities, their policies and their assassinations. The similarities too are unnerving with some people suggesting that perhaps Kennedy was the reincarnation of Abraham Lincoln! This claim may be quite far-fetched, but there is no denying the fact that there were some rather strange similarities between the lives of both these men.
Both Lincoln and Kennedy studied law and were associated with the civil rights movements during their respective presidencies. Both the presidents served in the military before entering politics. Lincoln was elected to the House of Representatives in 1846, while Kennedy was elected to the House of Representatives in 1946. Lincoln was elected president in 1860, while Kennedy was elected in 1960. Lincoln and Kennedy both lost a son while serving as presidents. Both the presidents had 4 children, but two died before reaching their teens. Look at the similar datings for each event.
Such intersections, regardless of generational divides and offered by presidents via presidents make such a study, although short worth the time.
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