I was profoundly struck by your Oct. 1 column relating the sense of loss and alarm you experienced upon your return from a recent overseas visit to Ireland [Coming home humbled, Ken Trainor, Viewpoints]. Returning to the U.S., you said that you “looked forward to coming back to my life in Oak Park, of course, but not to the U.S., which feels wrecked and ruined.” I shook my head as I read and re-read those words a few times. So perfectly descriptive! So heart-breathtakingly true!
It is pretty frightening that so many of us are shocked and horrified every day by some new unimaginable policy or statement by our president. So many of us would agree with you that our country indeed feels “wrecked and ruined.”
Your gift in writing this article, and the many others before it, is that you always seem to be able to name and celebrate those things that made our country unique and special. “One nation under God” but with room for differences in opinion. We lived in a country where immigrants saw and believed they could have a better life. I was proud at the level of give and take in discourse and at the civility exhibited even when consensus was hard to reach.
I was proud to say “The U.S.” when asked while traveling where I lived. And what a blessing it was that there was never a need to censure media content for the angry and foul speech that our children and grandchildren now hear every single day on TV, cellphone, or computer.
Bewildering as our challenges are, we remember when things were different and understand that we must endeavor to live and exhibit the “better angels of our nature.”
Thank you for reminding us that we have some work to do.
Lynn Grogan
Oak Park