1952 was a year not much different from this. There was an important election and since Harry Truman chose not to run, the Democratic Party chose an intellectual whose name was Adlai Stevenson. His adversary in the Republican Party was the popular war hero, General Dwight Eisenhower who won the election in a landslide. I imagine the country wasn't quite ready for an intellectual. We're still not. John McCain graduated from the Naval Academy 894 out of a class of 899. Eisenhower's selection for Vice President was Richard Nixon, and we know his history. Coincidentally we were in a war in Korea for two years in 1952 and Americans were tired of having their sons killed in a war they didn't understand. Also, Joseph McCarthy was busy hunting communists and spies in the entertainment industry and everywhere else while the country was in the "cold war" with Russia.
I was due to start teaching right after Labor Day in 1952 so the wife and I got two babes into the car and drove from the Bronx to South Orange, New Jersey. We did find an apartment we could afford there. It was in an attic that was at the top of a very long flight of about 75 crooked and rickety stairs. When we finally arrived up there without the benefit of oxygen or a Sherpa, we found that the floor in the living room was somewhat tilted toward the kitchen, and that if you weren't careful, you could slip and slide all across the room into the kitchen stove. It would help if you wore golf shoes with spikes. But this was the best place we could find on our limited budget. And so it was on Labor Day, 1952 that we left the Bronx forever. The bad news on that day was that there was a torrential rainstorm and driving was quite hazardous. But we arrived safely and we each carried a kid perilously up the stairs. And while I was climbing this long flight with Robin, age 2, in my arms, I kept thinking of the myth of Sisyphus, a character in Greek mythology who, because of his wicked deeds, was sentenced in Hades perpetually to roll a large boulder up a mountain peak, only to have it eternally roll back down into a valley. And that's how long and terrifying this climb into our apartment seemed to be; and how my life seemed to be up until that moment. I vowed never to let Robin roll back down those stairs.
But now on Labor Day, 2008 Robin is no longer a babe, and she could climb those stairs better than I can at the moment because my age has made me immobile. But, at least my brain is still mobile and I need to use it now to clarify a position or an issue that I brought up in a prior blog. It is now an election year as important...or more...than that in 1952. A military man, an American hero is, again, a candidate for one party, and a bright, articulate African American is the candidate for the other party. It is a year when citizens must debate the merits of each candidate and listen to, watch, and read all they can about each of them in order to cast a responsible vote--a vote that will put the right man in office--a man who will lead this country in a new and better direction than the man who is currently in office. I said previously that I believe every person has a Constitutional right to express an opinion--not only on the election, but on any subject. But, (and please try to understand this) I don't believe a person has any Constitutional right or any other kind of right to have his opinion respected. Get it? If you don't like someone's opinion you can disrespect it. A person might say, "At least respect my opinion." I say, "Nah!" State your opinion, but don't expect me to like it if I don't like it. Why be dishonest with yourself -- or your friend.
Anyway, Happy Labor Day!
