First, my friend, Eric, is to be released from prison (on parole) on Tuesday morning at 8:30. I have known and been visiting Eric for some 20 years. He is more than ready to re-enter society and become a contributing member of it. He has a good job, a good place to live, and a good support system. I am thrilled to be able to talk and be with him on the outside. I am grateful to everyone in and outside of the corrections system who helped him get to this point, and give him enormous credit for all he has done to prepare for Tuesday morning. Continue, if you will, to keep Eric in your thoughts and your prayers.
Second, on Wednesday, Joe Biden will be inaugurated as President of the United States, and I am very happy about that. His election and inauguration bring to mind three personal memories about presidents and presidential inaugurations.
1. Sometime when I was quite young and Dwight Eisenhower was our president, our family attended a football game at the University of Iowa. During the game, the announcer said that it was Ike’s birthday, and wished him a Happy Birthday. Most of the crowd applauded and cheered, but there were a few audible boos mixed in. I remember my dad saying that the boos were inappropriate because, no matter how you felt about Ike, he was our president and deserving of our good wishes on his birthday. Dad “liked Ike,” so I suppose you could say that was an easy thing for him to say, but I think he really believed what he had said.
America was quite different then.
2. On January 20, 1965, I marched with my college band in the inaugural parade for Lyndon Johnson. (I did not witness a moment of the inauguration itself.) That evening, before we left downtown D.C. to begin our rail trip back to Iowa, I retrieved the sign pictured above from a light pole, maybe on Pennsylvania Avenue, maybe not. No one seemed to notice or mind then, and I hope it’s too long ago for me to be prosecuted for theft. Note that the sign only closed the street for 24 hours. Enough time in those days for security, I guess, and only a few years after Kennedy’s assassination.
America was quite different then.
3. On January 20, 1981, I attended Ronald Reagan’s inauguration. We lived in suburban D.C. at the time, and my parents were big Reagan fans. Dad was able to get tickets to the Inauguration, I believe through their congressman. They got tickets for Maxine and me, too, and even though I was by then in quite a different place then they politically, I was thrilled just to be able to attend with them. It could be the only chance in my life to experience the event itself in person. Seeing Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan up there together, and experiencing the continuity of our government, no matter how contested, is forever in my memory. I do not remember anything special about security, although surely we had to be checked in by someone, someplace.
America was quite different then.
We cannot go back to any earlier time, and our current divisions and battles cannot be wished away. We cannot and will not “come together” just because Joe Biden invites us to. But I do hope we might be able at least to keep a respectful distance apart this week if for no other reason than that we love our country more than we love our political parties or affiliations. Just for a few days, please. It’s the least, or perhaps the most, we can do.
American can be quite different than it ever has been, or than it is now—different, and much better for everyone.
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