I don’t always get to see CBS Sunday Morning; that’s because, with or without Tim Russert (may he rest in peace), I am a committed MEET THE PRESS watcher and the shows overlap except for 30 minutes. I am happy to say that I did turn the channel for those 30 minutes today and they were inspiring. Bill Flannigan did a short piece on 1968 and the relationship we, as the American people, have with that year. He expressed the obvious need by Baby Boomers to relive that year as a turning point in our evolution, over and over again.
A great deal happened that year that shaped all that we know. Our frame of reference in the world was very different. The country was split between “the establishment”, who the blush of enthusiasm for a successful war effort in Vietnam had not as yet worn off, and the liberal “baby boomers” who were protesting the effort due to the sheer carnage. The Kent State student massacre would not happen for another 2 years. The nightly news gave us memories of body bags returning home in staggering numbers. Do we value individual lives differently today? I am reminded of this every week when George Stephanopoulos announces on his show during the in memoriam segment, the 3-6 individual lives lost in Iraq and what an impact those single digit numbers convey. Do we feel differently today about conflict, war and the ramifications that ensue?
Back then we were at the beginning of a war effort that ultimately claimed over 58,000 lives and impacted over 350,000 Americans that returned home wounded. Richard Nixon was elected President. Our personal heroes, Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King who were the architect and supporter of the Civil Rights Movement, were both assassinated! For those of us who saw a light within those two individuals, it changed our lives forever . . . until NOW!
Robert F. Kennedy was once asked when he thought a black man could become President. He responded, in about 40 years. It appears that, that prediction has come to pass. As Bill Flannigan expressed, we now have the opportunity to turn back the clock and travel a new path. We can not undo what has already been done, but we can have a “Do-Over”. A Do-Over is usually reserved for children in a game or athletic endeavor when they feel they need another chance or the circumstances were beyond their control. They just want a “Do-Over” and they want it badly. And sometimes, if they are given one, the outcome can be extraordinary.
So too, did we need a “Do-Over”. Somehow for us “Baby Boomers”, we may have lost our childhood hope when those two extraordinary men were assassinated; when the Vietnam War lasted over a decade and many friends were lost or maimed; and when race riots were still hanging on late into our adulthood. We needed something to believe in, again. Our “Do-Over” has been a long time in coming, but it is here, nonetheless.
It has come on the heels of the worst economic climate in our country in almost 50 years. It has come with the accompaniment of another misdirected war. It has come when many of those “Baby Boomers” are being unceremoniously released from their lifelong jobs . . . but it has indeed come and its name is: President Barak Obama.
Somewhere along the way, the man, Barak Obama became larger than himself. The man, became a movement. That movement is what carried him to the White House. Hopefully, that movement will be what sustains him in all of his endeavors and efforts to right the wrongs and make peace with the world. Ultimately, it will be what secures our future. It can only come with hard work, sacrifice and the knowledge that we all can do better. It will allow us to deal swiftly with those who have harmed us and mercifully with those who were merely in the line of fire. It will make us better people and a stronger country. It will allow us to be everything that we had hoped we could be when envisioned in the speech: “I Have a Dream“. But most importantly, it will be our chance to take on our own direction with responsibility. With our new President’s guidance we can avail ourselves of our own personal “Do-Over”.
I, for one am excited! It’s the biggest “Do-Over” ever!
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