I got a package the other day. I knew it was coming and what it
contained. However, until the instant I
opened it, its significance eluded me.
It was the last of the packages I prepared for moving East a
year and a half ago. However, not until
I opened it did I realize that my move East from Northern California was
finally complete. Except for my lads,
and a host of wonderful friends, nothing that belongs to me remains in Northern
California.
Suddenly, I wondered as this thought occurred to me: now
that the move is over, when did it begin?
Did it begin when my new bride said “yes” or when my previous lady
friend said “forget it,” or when my first marriage ended?
A person might be tempted to question why it matters unless, of course, this
person is a student of history as I am.
Why it should matter may not be easily understood, but for this student
of history, the attraction comes from my belief that each life in microcosm is like
the history of every society created by humankind. Nations are born, mature, and grow. It takes
time to gain experience and wisdom.
However, ever so slowly nations die (or if you prefer they evolve) just
as human beings do. Nations, like
individual people, are inevitably mortal.
Nations and people have beginnings and ends. Whether we look backward or forward, we are
invariably looking for the horizon where the visible and the infinite merge
into the impenetrable and the incomprehensible.
During a broadcast from the BBC in early 1942, Winston
Churchill, while reviewing the major events of World War II up to that time,
observed to those who wondered how long the war was likely to last: “Ah, this
is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end, but it is perhaps the
end of the beginning.”
When you reflect on the events in your own life to better
comprehend their causes and effects, as well as their significances and meanings,
you are acting as your own personal historian. Such reflective exercises can be refreshing
and even energizing when conducted at the right time and in the right
spirit. If such reflections are undertaken
in a spirit of self-loathing and degradation, they are exceedingly
destructive. If they are undertaken with
a determination to better understand where to go from here into a more
satisfying future, then the past can be really and truly enlightening!
The late news commentator Paul Harvey once observed that the
United States of America was the first country in the history of the world born
with a birth certificate: the Declaration of Independence. So, let’s consider, as I have from time to
time in these musings, America’s life stages.
Its infancy was perhaps 1776 when it was born until 1789 when it became
a “republic.” Its second stage or
childhood would be between 1789 when George Washington became our first
president and 1845 when it entered the Mexican War. Next came its adolescence during the Civil
War and post Civil War era: 1845 to 1900.
Early adulthood could be 1900 to 1945 during which a newly united
America was launched reluctantly with fits and starts into the world beyond its
ocean girt boundaries. Young adulthood
could be the era from 1945 to 2000 as America was buffeted by international
conflict and social changes here at home.
Mature adulthood may well be the era in which we are living. The world melting pot which Americans once
took pride in when it accepted the gift of the Statue of Liberty is taking
effect just as our aging body politic is going through its own significant
changes. The ever-changing world keeps
adult America constantly on its toes just as professional and parental responsibilities
keep mature adults guessing. The lives, fortunes, and values of over three hundred
million Americans are a hodgepodge of values, causes, effects, and meanings. Where will these conflicts take us? Might we recognize our America in another century? (Note: Do you think Henry the Eighth would
have recognized Victorian England 300 years after his reign?) Ought we to be able to comprehend America
after our time is up? Would Washington
and Jefferson have recognized Teddy Roosevelt’s America? Should they have been able to do so?
Ah, beginnings and endings – when did they occur in your own
life? Some insist that you began at
conception while others insist that you became you only at birth. When did your beginning end? Did it end when
you graduated from diapers or when you attended kindergarten or when you became
a teenager? Were you really and truly an
adult at age 21 or were you only legally an adult at that age? If you were legally married at the altar,
were you emotionally and spiritually married at the altar or did that only
happen later?
Yes, indeed, when it comes to beginnings and endings,
there’s so much to think about.
Nuts! I just remembered! A couple pairs of my socks remain
in Northern California. What do you think? Is my move really complete or is it
all an illusion?
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY
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