PAtownhall.com
Pennsylvania's Marketplace of Ideas
Pennsylvania's Marketplace of Ideas
PAtownhall.com
Pennsylvania's Marketplace of Ideas
Pennsylvania's Marketplace of Ideas
by Peg Luksik
In this Presidential election year, it's all too easy to get caught up in the hyperbolic political rhetoric. According to the pundits, economic collapse is imminent, catastrophic climatic upheaval is upon us, another world war may begin tomorrow, and the social fabric of our society is coming unraveled. Even Chicken Little didn't predict so many disasters.
Fortunately, America's strength does not depend upon those who call themselves experts.
The America's strength rises from the communities of our nation. Communities where families and neighbors come together, just as they have for two centuries.
They come to share in graduations, from kindergarten through college. They come to celebrate weddings. They come to cheer at sporting events, from peewee to professional. They come to applaud at recitals, school performances, and forensics. They come to recognize life achievements at retirement parties. And they come to remember loved ones at funerals.
At each event, formal ritual is combined with informal gathering. And while the ritual is important, it is at the informal gathering that the true nature of America can be best observed. At these everyday events, a visitor would truly "see" America.
He would see the women gathered around the babies, sharing stories and advice with younger moms, and admiring the little ones. And he would know that America values motherhood.
He would see the fathers playing with their youngsters, always "just missing" so the son or daughter could have the joy of beating Dad, and then watching proudly as their offspring recount their epic successes. And he would know that America's fathers love their children.
He would see adults quietly assisting their older relatives, making sure that the seniors are shuttled to family events, and then cared for while in attendance. And he would know that America's adult "children" still love and respect their own parents.
He would see comfort, whether physical or emotional, being offered to those who were suffering or grieving, without fanfare or publicity. And he would know that America's neighbors are compassionate.
He would see children cheering and encouraging a peer who needs help, celebrating as much for the achievement of a physically or mentally challenged friend as they do for their own accomplishments. And he would know that America's children are kind.
Not one of these events will ever make the nightly news. They occur so regularly that most of us don't even notice them. They are mundane.
The strength of America lies in that very fact. The ties that bind America's families and communities together are strong. They have withstood economic, social, political, and climatic challenges for over two hundred years. The nature of the challenges has changed over the two centuries of America's existence, but the strength of the American family has not.
A nineteenth century French historian named Alex de Tocqueville once observed that America was great because America was good. America's goodness begins in her families, and it is therefore from her families that her greatness flows.
America's families are now in our care. How we preserve them will determine the future of our nation. It falls to this generation to preserve today the mundane virtues that build strong families, so our children will grow to live in a strong America tomorrow.
