REMEMBER YESTERDAY—BELIEVE IN TOMORROW

By Edwin Cooney

Last week, I offered the observation that “mad” was America’s favorite mood.

It seems that anytime people make an historical or political point, they inevitably refer to the “founding fathers,” (a phrase not introduced into the American lexicon until Warren Harding) or to our two great documents, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, as their authorities of timeless wisdom.

This is natural, otherwise it wouldn’t be done, but it’s inevitably misleading. The honorable men who founded this nation, some of whom were acquainted with the great philosophers of the Enlightenment (such as Voltaire and Rousseau), drew from their knowledge and understanding of the best ideas of European Enlightenment for the structure of government. Nevertheless, to suggest that a perfect government was drafted by those “Founding Fathers,” is to place a burden on these gentlemen too great for their reputations to possibly sustain.

How many times has some political orator observed that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson wouldn’t recognize America if they could be here today? This, as I see it, is nonsense. Invariably, our parents and grandparents would need a period of adjustment to “get with the program” were they able to rejoin us today. However, it’s also realistic to observe that we’d be pretty unhappy campers if we were forced to live in “the good old days” minus the internet, the cell phone and sports replays on television, not to mention the miracles of modern medicine (note that I said medicine, not healthcare) and modern transportation.

My point is that one of the things today’s opinion makers seem to have in common is their willingness to start us off by being mad that today isn’t yesterday. True, the life we’ve led is invariably the life we know and the life we’re about to lead can be more than a little frightening, but the life we’re about to lead is all the life there is. As the song says: “…and that was yesterday and yesterday’s gone.”

Of course, just because yesterday’s gone, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t possess wonderful lessons, songs, poems and stories to guide us through today’s and tomorrow’s way of life. Tomorrow, however, will never be yesterday nor should it be. If Washington and Jefferson would “turn over in their graves” today, it’s significant to note that both these gentlemen might well have turned over in their respective graves during the “glorious” days of Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. We know that George Washington would never have approved of Ronald Reagan’s worthwhile “START” Treaty with Mikhail Gorbachev’s Soviet Union.

Historians and social commentators could, it seems to me, aid our tomorrows by objectively rather than subjectively reminding us of what came before. The tall redheaded Tom Jefferson was both pragmatic and enlightened in that he took advantage of his resources as a slave owner while, at the same time, bemoaning its evil. Even today, millions of people would rather see others do what they say rather than what they do. This is especially true of us parents.

All parents seek to pass on to their children the best of what they know and the lessons they’ve experienced. One thing parents invariably must face, however, is the reality that their children will live their own lives, not the lives of their parents.

As a student of history, I love yesterday’s stories and I revere many of yesterday’s people. Some of them were quite heroic (for example, John Adams, though politically ambitious, defended the British soldiers charged with murder during the 1770 Boston Massacre) and others were decidedly selfish (such as Vice President Aaron Burr during the aftermath of the bitterly contentious 1800 presidential election.)

Having observed last week that America’s favorite mood appears to be “mad,” I assert that much of the reason for this “mad” is because we keep comparing ourselves to the best of our history and find ourselves wanting. We’re constantly being warned by some that the United States is headed in this or that direction (usually toward a new world order of Socialism or Corporatism—take your pick) and that it will be a world of misery and regimentation. No matter what, “it sure won’t be as good as yesterday!”

Just as we must defend ourselves in an often hostile and unpredictable world and uncertain tomorrow, we can, as I see it, do so more wisely if we’d stop grieving for yesterday.

Yes, indeed, “yesterday’s gone.” Tomorrow’s up to you and me.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY