Doris Kearns Goodwin, author and historian, has done some great research on a number of presidents.  Her book Team of Rivals about the cabinet Abraham Lincoln drew around him to assist in dealing with the Civil War should be on the book shelf of every American.  She draws on that time in Lincoln’s life for her book (2018) Leadership in Turbulent Times.  In these pages she includes her research for her books on Franklin D. Roosevelt (No Ordinary Time), Lyndon Baines Johnson (And the American Dream) and Teddy Roosevelt  (The Bully Pulpit).  For each president she points to a crisis of enormous proportions in their time, a time in which they seemed to be the individual best suited, with the leadership qualities that made the difference for this country.
    For Lincoln it was the decision to enact the Emancipation Proclamation; for TR it was the coal strike of 1902 and his battle to break up the big capitalist trusts; FDR’s first 100 days in office were crucial to turning the country from the despair of the Great Depression to a vision of what was possible in a country where everyone mattered; and for LBJ it was to enact the Civil Rights and Voting Acts, Federal Assistance for secondary education, and Medicare.
    All were men who had a progressive vision and felt called to serve the people of this country.  In fighting the wealthy, the well-born and powerful, they were answering to the needs of the people.  Lincoln believed the executive was the “steward of the people” and after reading his 10 volume biography, Teddy Roosevelt echoed those very words.  During TR’s term, he showed caution and patience throughout the strike, but when the situation had reached a state of acute danger to the people he was pledged to protect, when people needed help, TR could not tolerate “any implication that the government of the United States was helpless.”  For the people he was willing to break precedents and risk his leadership.
    Franklin Roosevelt took much the same direction when he stepped away from laissez-faire philosophy. For FDR it was the people who mattered.  To relieve, ease, safeguard, guarantee, ensure — to bring comfort to the suffering he felt his highest and best calling.
    Lyndon Johnson, a son of the South, was a defender of the rights of all people.  He saw the country through the lens of what actually was and he would not look the other way in the face of white supremacy.  In one of his final speeches he said, “The plight of being black in a white society remains the chief unaddressed problem of our nation.  Until blacks stand on level and equal ground we cannot rest.  Our goal is to assure that all Americans play by the same rules and all Americans play against the same odds.”
    As I read about these men, I was reminded that great men and women are still standing tall in our fragmented society.  They are unafraid to risk fortune and position to do what is right. We are truly looking for such people in our upcoming elections.  These presidents were progressives, meaning they understood the need to reach down and raise up those in need.  Many of the issues they faced are still problems which have not been fully met and solved in our own time.
    During the time of Teddy Roosevelt there was a progressive movement which swept the country working for labor unions, the rights of workers, breaking up of big businesses and the power of banks and a real commitment to the national parks and environmental resources we all hold dear.  Climate change, saving the Arctic, the forests of the West and working toward clean energy are all part of our responsibilities in this time and in this place. Then we turn our eyes to the rest of the world where hunger and disease are the realities for billions of people. All people matter. We must and we will overcome.

Seeing the word “grace” in several recent newspaper accounts about the school district, was a welcome change from the cruel words that have washed over us and difficult situations in which we have found ourselves over the past year.  “Grace”?  How do you live with the word “grace”?  It is different from the word “service” which was the key word for last year’s school year as selected by the district.  “Service” is an active word.  We can do something with service.  But what do you do with the word “grace”?  To me, “grace” is an attitude that colors all of life.  In common parlance we might say it is “cutting the other guy some slack.”
    It isn’t a word we hear very often unless it is associated with a description of a “gracious and loving God” or the “grace” we receive as forgiven people of God.” A word used by the Christian church. No, “grace” is harder to twist into a secular situation and particularly in these days.  And yet it is a word that was never needed more.
    How do we meet people who have survived the west coast fires or the east coast hurricanes?  How do we approach people in the middle of protests and times of racial injustice?  How do we look eye to eye with the folks who come to the Food Bank or apply for assistance in these days of economic recession?  How do we honor peoples’ pain and the suffering and the struggles of their lives both in our own country and the world, unless we become a grace-filled people?
    That is a huge order in these days of tightly held and frequently parochial belief systems.  As our days shorten, may we pray to have lived a grace-filled life.  Grace-filled means looking at the lives of others with understanding, with a humility that shows I know I do not know what their lives are like.  I cannot make decisions for them, but in humility allow them to show me what they need and more importantly tell me who they are without my own prejudices attached.  
    Many years ago I remember attending a discussion about poverty in Dawson County.  Several of the people at the gathering were women who were poor — single moms — joblessness was a key word in the discussions.  How to accept food commodities in order to feed their children and do it with grace even though they were angry at the circumstances that had put them in this place.  Those of us attending needed the grace to keep silent; needed the grace to honor their anger and accept the integrity of their lives.
    “Grace” does not judge another.  “Grace” accepts the situation and those involved and then moves on from that point.  For the school district to take the word “grace” as a key word for this year lays a responsibility on the whole community.  The word is not only for the students in their dealings with each, but for we adults to look at our lives in this time and place and to attempt to live a grace-filled life as we journey with those around us.
    Over twenty years ago, attending to my first funeral service, I found a prayer that described the life of the deceased.  I have used it often over the years as I came to know and serve many “grace-filled” people. “We thank thee, O God, for all the goodness and courage which have passed from the life of this your servant into the lives of others, leaving the world better than it was; for a life’s task faithfully and honorably discharged, for gracious and kindly generosity, for sadness met without surrender and weakness endured without defeat.  Glory be to you, O Lord Most High.”

    I thought the day I discovered toilet paper missing from the shelves of the grocery store, the country had reached a level of absurdity I never thought possible.  But now I am learning that people are messing with the United States Postal Service and I am reaching beyond absurd to find a word that describes how I feel.  I guess for me the USPS is as close to sacred as things can get in this country.  When I enter the post office I feel as though I am entering a tradition that is as old as our country.  In some ways it is more important than Congress because its sole purpose is to link the people — that is us.  The Post Office is about serving US. A current book on the history of the post office by Devin Leonard notes: “The United States Postal Service is a wondrous American creation. Seven days a week, its army of 300,000 letter carriers delivers 513 million pieces of mail, 40 percent of the world’s volume. It is far more efficient than any other mail service–more than twice as efficient as the Japanese and easily outpacing the Germans and British. And the USPS has a storied history. Founded by Benjamin Franklin, it was the information network that bound far-flung Americans together, fostered a common culture, and helped American business to prosper.” That old adage "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." I believe it.  In Glendive you see the rural mail carriers heading out on their routes, getting stuck in snow drifts and fighting through blizzards; in town there are the icy streets, the snow-covered sidewalks, the dogs, the heat of the summer sun.  I mean nothing stops the U.S. mail from being delivered. Postal carriers know the people on their routes and they are often the first to notice when something is wrong. We can depend on mail service in spite of everything else that goes wrong.
    The national news tonight (August 14) brought in Montana for reports from Missoula, Billings, Bozeman and Helena concerning the removal of mail boxes from various locations and this is happening throughout the country.  Senator Tester spoke first and then Daines and Gianforte followed with letters to the Post Master demanding an explanation.  The upshot was they stopped taking down the mail boxes and said they would reconsider this after the election.  Because of the news reporters in Montana, the USPS stopped this nation wide.  No one knew why they were being taken out.  They were just gone making mailing more difficult.
    The slowing down and back log of mail we are hearing about is holding up prescriptions, pension checks and social security checks, all of which are life blood to many people.  There is a new postmaster general who appeared out of the grab bag of multi-billionaires who seem to have more influence in this country than ever before.  He has no experience and he immediately started to make changes of some magnitude which will slow down the delivery of packages and mail. The Postal Union is bringing all of this to our attention.
    I have heard some folks say that with the Internet so important these days we don’t need the post office as much. Certainly the big semis with USPS I see on the highways tell me mail is still important.  I find I use it more than ever and if I order something from the internet I need the post office to deliver it to me.
    Hand writing letters and sending cards to people are very important in this time of pandemic.  It shows you care when you take the time to write, address and stamp an envelope.  Many people still pay their bills by mail and this year more than any other time we will vote by mail. The USPS is one of those things in our lives to which we pay no attention, just assuming it will always be there and always operate as it has for over 200 years. I believe in our Postal Service and I think most Americans agree. Leave it alone.

    Years ago the Coca Cola company had a Christmas advertisement.  A choir of rosy-cheeked children holding candles would sing, “I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony…”. You can’t miss with kids, Christmas good will and a choir, but somehow, no matter how much we devoutly wish for peace, it never comes quite as we would like. And “perfect harmony”, well, not in this lifetime. 
       I never could understand why so many people say they “hate history”.  Having taught history I get that no student likes to be told they “have” to learn something for which they can see no immediate value.  But as we gain a little history of our own, as the years fly by and the grey hairs appear and the aches and pains multiply, a study of history should be central to our understanding of how human beings operate and the role of the individual.
      There never has been a time of “perfect harmony” on earth. Humans’ earliest civilizations were characterized by war and conquest, by murder, torture and slavery.  From the evidence found there has been a constant rise and fall of civilizations - the victorious and the defeated.  Some people disappear into the mists of time, are swallowed up by other peoples.  The gene pool adjusts itself and time marches on.
      Even though peace is an elusive concept, humans seem to never stop working toward that ultimate goal.  To be able to bypass color of skin, cultural differences, religion, gender is something devoutly to be wished for.  How to get to that point, however, that’s the problem. In the middle of these disturbing times people say to me, “What’s happening?  Things have never been this bad before. How do we ever get back to what we once had?”  History tells us life has never been perfect.  Every generation has faced what they conceived to be Armageddon. And history is linear — it just keeps moving forward.
       In our own time growing up as a ‘Baby boomer’ life was pretty good.  The soldiers were coming home from World War and settling in to marriage and families.  After the atomic bomb was dropped people really thought that would bring people to their senses, but within a few brief years the Korean War and the Cold War piled disaster upon disaster.  The assassinations of the Kennedys and Martin Luther King; the Vietnam War which made everyone uncertain — should we be there or not; “End the war” riots in the streets; Civil Rights and the burning of Detroit and Watts among others; the following years brought us into Desert Storm, the Oklahoma City bombing, Isis, the 9/11 horror and a group of presidents who grew in power, but not always in truth telling, justice and honor.
​     We are once again being challenged to look at our history.  The pandemic has given us time to examine our world and the rough spots we have ignored in our mad dash to nowhere and nothing.  The greater part of courage these days is recognizing where we have failed and being willing to bend our backs to begin again.  History shows us every generation is called to practice justice, love kindness and walk in humility.  How well this generation does depends on — guess what, each of us. 

    Covid quarantine has given me lots of time to listen, to think and to read and in so doing begin to shape a philosophy for the last years of my life.  A favorite Spiritual author, Richard Rohr, quoted:  “As we experience discomfort in this time, let’s begin to dream of a new normal, a new normal that addresses the weaknesses and problems that were going unaddressed in the old normal. If we’re wise, we won’t go back; we’ll go forward.” —Brian McLaren.
    McLaren addresses our thoughts on the “new normal”.  We can’t go back to what was and everything we experience changes us.  How comfortable will any of us feel walking through huge crowds of people, for example?  Or attending sporting events like the State Basketball tournaments in Montana? Church worship is being tweaked to better meet the needs of people who don’t want to sit shoulder to shoulder in the pew anymore.  In meeting the needs of friends, neighbors and family we will have to adjust and not just assume our way is the only way.  Loving, sharing and caring requires us to follow the old saying, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”  It is a two-way street.
    Visiting with a friend of the same age recently we observed that as we came to adulthood in the 1960s we were surrounded and influenced by the Civil Rights leaders of the Black Rights movement of that time. Our eyes were opened to “Jim Crow” laws, separate drinking fountains, restaurants, swimming pools and bathrooms.  There were people who still tried to tell us that it was a “separate, but equal” nation.  Just read the book “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett to quickly dispel that myth.  But there was a beginning and my formative years were part of that time.
    Now we are moving into Phase Two of the Civil Rights movement when the laws that were passed and the promises made must be fulfilled.  My own perceptions need some upgrading as well.  I am struggling with the meaning of “systemic racism” and what that means on a personal level.  The other day I was writing something and I used the words “black and white” to mean “right and wrong”.  I stopped as I realized that statement meant that anyone who was black is being told they were “wrong”.  White is good, black is not.  Sitting back I thought long and hard about my own mental wiring.  Many of us have said, “I am not a racist.”  No, you are not.  But we have to remember that by virtue of being white skinned — something we can’t help — we are privileged and people look at us differently than someone who is black or brown-skinned.  It cannot be helped.  It is the way we are wired.
    So, how do we re-wire.  Through prayer; long, thoughtful moments of inner examination; and open, truthful discussions with family and friends.

 I don’t know where to start or what to say.
​First I will listen/read/watch.  I will speak against injustice.

I don’t want to get it wrong or get called out.
    I will make mistakes. No doubt about it.  I will be grateful for the lesson.

It won’t make a difference what I do. Nothing is going to change.
    Things happen when I take risks and become part of something bigger.

I don’t get involved in politics. I don’t have time.
    This is a human rights issue.  This matters so I will make time.

The first two weeks in June have gone by.  We are still in a semi-quarantine thanks to Covid 19.  Many states, Montana included have tried partial opening.  For some it has not gone well.  The numbers of sick people are still high.  Opening has become political -- again -- the government has dropped concern for the virus and its victims and has moved on to the economy which, of course, is not good.  There are millions unemployed because their jobs ended with the quarantine and many places have not yet opened.  Some Governors are pushing opening for the sake of the economy while others are keeping a tight lid on.
The rule of thumb is wearing a mask and remembering to distance.  But that again is political.  I saw a survey.  People who wear a mask are usually Democrats, voting for Joe Biden.  People who don't wear a mask are Trump supporters and 82% of them do not wear masks.  "Trump doesn't wear a mask, so why should we?"  Washing your hands and using hand sanitizer are other ways we are trying to meet the virus.  There is no hope of a vaccine anytime soon.
If that was not enough, a man named George Floyd died in police custody.  A policeman held his knee on his wind pipe when he was down on the ground.  The man yelled, "I can't breathe." And he died.  This was in Minneapolis in early June.  People caught it on phone cameras and it went viral.  There were protests in all fifty states and also places in the world.  There was some violence and looting, but for the most part they were peaceful.  Some protests have continued and there is a strong movement to alter police behavior.  There is a long list of black men and women who have been killed by police.  It really is a signal of the lack of equal justice in this country.  More Confederate  statues are coming down. The talk is to defund police departments, meaning money would go to social agencies to assist with a lot of things police have to deal with and really aren't equipped to -- things like mental health, domestic violence, teen gangs and other social issues.  The rationale is then they could tend to crime.  George Floyd was arrested for supposing passing a counterfeit $20.  He did not know it was counterfeit and the police over reacted because he was black.  The protests raised the names of many blacks young and old who were shot by police.
The protests were in every state and in all sized cities.  Nearly everyone is in favor of a strong reexamination of our justice system.  People are trying to be aware of our racism.  Maybe it is step 2 of the Civil Rights Movement.  It is difficult to understand why people are racists.  White supremicists  are all over.  It surprises me to hear the words that come out of some people's mouths.
So the country is really dealing with a lot -- besides personal illness and death, the upcoming national elections with Trump and Republicans trying to stir up voting issues.  Voting by mail has become a possibility because of the virus and the need to avoid crowds.  Joe Biden is the Democratic presumptive candidate and of course Trump is the Republican.
​People really don't quite know what to do.  No one wants to get sick.  The virus is really deadly.

          Former teacher friend with a tree business is digging out some of my bushes today that succumbed to blight last fall.  I gave them this Spring to see if there was any life, but other then for a few limp green leaves they were done.  My favorite was a strawberry hydrangea bush.  Every year the cone shaped blossoms would start out a creamy white and end up an antique rose color.  And they dried beautifully!  I have several sitting in vases around my house from previous years.  So it was heartbreaking to lose the bush.  I also had white lilac and purple lilac bushes that went as well.  Normally you can't kill lilacs, but this blight or whatever it was was a dangerous attacker.  Other people have huge lilac hedges but these had lasted for only five or six years so this was the year, I guess.  I also had a couple of berginia plants that reminded me of rhubarb, again not a favorite.  So there will be some new bushes. Also lost a bleeding heart to the blight and had to replant that.  It was very sad as the plants you labor over become part of the look of your house, your yard and you greet them each Spring and look forward to seeing them appear.
         I have a couple of buds on my Winnipeg Parks rose bush.  That is one of the first to bloom in the Spring and the last to go in the Fll.  Then there are a number of day lilies, yellow and purple, a white hydrangea or Anna-Belle and some ornamental grasses which I enjoy.  This year I planted more in pots, but there are Asian lilies, poppies, and some other odds and ends I threw in the ground.
          I have the best friends.  One built me a raised garden bed for my deck (the kneeling and bending isn't going too well this year).  He made it out of scrap cedar and I told him it could be a buffet in my dining room it was so pretty.  Right now I have potatoes, carrots, onions and tomatoes as well as some sun flowers growing well.  By the time the season is over I should have learned a lot.  I already had to replace the tomatoes as the first batch I lost in a frost.
           Most folks around here are adapting pretty well to the Corona Virus restrictions.  They are easing a little.  Churches still are not rushing into worship -- just small numbers.  Graduation was parents only, was outside, with the graduates sitting six feet apart.  There are a few who rudely attempt to change the rules for themselves in the restaurants.  Of course there are always some folks for whom the rules don't apply.  As an old school teacher I have seen a lot of that before.
                 A cousin from the Anderson side of the family is attempting to put together a family reunion in Spearfish.  People are still adjusting to travel restrictions and not sure what they will do.  I can drive down, visit Cole and Margy in the process and then we will see what else transpires
                      Joe Biden, presumptive Democratic candidate made an appearance for the first time since Covid.  He hasn't selected a Vice President yet.  He promised it would be a woman, but there are lots of good choices Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar, Kamala Harris, Stacey Abrams, governors of New Mexico and Michigan.  All pretty savvy politicians in their own right, but he has to be careful.  Lots of disappointed Bernie Sanders' loyalists in the Democratic camp so Elizabeth Warren is a possibility if he is trying to keep them happy.  We will see what happens.  There is a lot to lose if he doesn't get the right one.
         According to statistics there are 100,000 dead for the virus.  The U.S. has the largest outbreak in the world.  Staggering and scary.  Epidemiologists say there will be a resurgence in the fall about the time our regular flu season begins. So we have that to look foward to.  Adjusting to the virus is changing a lot of things around the world -- people are much more cautious, international travel will probably not be as widespread.  Education is shifting to on-line both at the public school and college levels.  More tele-medicine. The "new normal" we are all facing promises to shake things up for a long time to come.