It has been over a year since the presidential election and I’m distressed. Not because Congress can’t get anything done. I’m fine with that, in fact, I prefer it when politicians get little done. No, what distresses me the most is the incivility of the political discourse and the lack of reason. I prefer when people listen to reason, think deeply about a topic and make rational decisions. I think that reasonable people will change their minds about a subject when new facts are presented. Our current state of affairs seems to be mostly positional politics, power plays and self-interest.
Perhaps sensing my distress (it was probably the open weeping), a friend gave me a copy of The American Spirit by David McCullough. McCullough is probably no stranger to people; after all, he has won two Pulitzer Prizes, the National Book Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, our country’s highest civilian award. He has also narrated television documentaries such as The Civil War by Ken Burns and movies such as Seabiscuit.
The American Spirit is subtitled, Who We Are and What We Stand For. The contents are a series of speeches delivered by McCullough, often for graduations, sometimes for naturalization ceremonies and others for particular anniversaries or commemorations.
What a treasure this man is! The writing is so pure and smooth that the book is a quick read. The stories he tells and the messages he delivers reminded me, or often educated me for the first time, about how special America is. This unique democracy we share is like none other the word has ever seen. Will we endure any short-term unpleasantness; we have gotten through far worse.
To try and convince you to pick up a copy and read it (put it on your Christmas list), I can do no better than provide you with a few gems from the book.
In a speech to new citizens about Thomas Jefferson: “At times he seemed all ideas, all energy. ‘It is wonderful how much may be done, if we are always doing,’ he said. And as few men and women ever have, he was always doing for his country.”
This prescient piece from 1994: “Let’s do something about public education. Let’s stop the mindless destruction of historic America. Let’s clean up our rivers and skies, and while we’re at it, let’s clean up our language—private and public and on the airwaves. Let’s stop the dumbing and degrading and cheap commercial exploitation of American life.” Agreed, sir, and this was before the Internet.
On the most important lesson: “It might never have happened. That’s among the most important lessons of history…and of life. There is so much around us that might never have happened were it not for a host of qualities called imagination, commitment, courage, creativity, and determination in the face of obstacles—that maybe most of all.”
On war: “We don’t give enough credit to presidents for what they don’t do. John Adams did not go to war with France at a time when a great part of the country was breathing fire for war. Truman didn’t use the atomic bomb in Korea in the face of tremendous pressure to do so. Eisenhower didn’t go into Vietnam.”
On the pursuit of happiness: “Education was seen as the road to happiness, a view with which Adams fervently agreed. They all did in that age of Enlightenment. Washington, Adams, Jefferson, each in his way made the point, many times. When our founders spoke of ‘pursuit of happiness,’ they did not mean long vacations or the piling up of things.”
And if you’ve made it this far: “So on you go. If your experience is anything like mine, the most important books in your life you have still to read.”
Make this book among them.
No comments yet.