When Heroes Die

First John Lewis, and now RBG. I mentioned to a coworker today that if Jimmy Carter dies before 2020 is over, it will seem like we’re doomed, like our world will be missing the necessary ingredients of integrity and compassion that will enable us to move forward. I know this isn’t true, but it feels like that today. I know there are strong, moral people out there, like Emma Gonzalez, with voices that won’t be silenced, but to realize that both Congressman Lewis and Justice Ginsburg are no longer with us, has really set me back in a hole that I hadn’t expected.
When I was a 10-year-old kid, the first well known person I considered a hero was Olympic swimmer Mark Spitz. And man, did he fit the role. There he was, the summer of ‘72, with those seven gold medals hanging around his neck. I suppose watching his success that summer may have done something to encourage me and my teammates to dive into the cold water of the Vergennes Memorial Swimming Pool at 8 a.m. on chilly summer mornings where we practiced, lap after lap. My friend Tim even had the same stars and stripes Speedo suit as Spitz. I didn’t know anything about Spitz’s personal life, his belief system or his political leanings. I was just impressed with the results he achieved in the water. After spending most of my summer mornings at swim team practice, I had some idea, although small, of what it took for Mark Spitz to swim 100-meter freestyle in 51.22 seconds. He was impressive and made us small town swimmers feel recognized in some way.
A few years later, I focused on biographies of Abraham Lincoln and Robert Kennedy. I moved on from Spitz to politicians, two of whom I believed had integrity and a sense of obligation to make their worlds better. I was impressed with how Lincoln sought out the advice from people who didn’t agree with him, and how RFK felt compelled to fight the sources, and results, of poverty. There have been other people I’ve grown to admire. Statesmen, like George Mitchell and George McGovern. (One of my first assignments for the Coos County Democrat was to cover McGovern’s stop at the Balsam’s Ballot Room in Dixville Notch in the early 90s.) There were the writers, Robert Frost and Harper Lee, both of whom I admire a great deal.
But in recent years it’s been John Lewis and RBG. It’s still a bit unbelievable to me to think that as a young man, a college kid, John Lewis literally put his life on the line when he put on his overcoat and knapsack and set out to cross the Edmund Pettis Bridge. And Ruth Bader Ginsburg, as a young Jewish mother with a law degree, decided she could change the world for women. They could not tolerate injustice.
In a recent NYT Op-Ed piece, Dr. Amitha Kalaichandran, wrote about grieving for public figures - “grief is a symptom of letting go when we don’t want to.” I think that is just the kind of grief many of us feel about Congressman Lewis and Justice Ginsburg. I don’t want to let go of their presence in our world. Because how do we replace that? Then the question for myself becomes, what do I do to be emboldened by their courage?
It seems a bit trite to say - do what you can, wherever you are - but that’s where I’ve landed with all this. What can I do where I am? I’m working on it. I put up a Biden/Harris yard sign in my yard. I put a Biden/Harris bumper sticker on my car that I drive through this very red pocket of a blue state. When someone says, “But don’t you think all lives matter?” I’ve got an answer now and I’m not afraid to use it, even with coworkers and neighbors. Because my Jewish friend was attending a statewide on-line Shabbat service last Friday evening and the participants were “zoom bombed” with photos of the Holocaust and comments about Hitler “not killing enough of you,” I will continue to say that there is absolutely no place for Lord’s prayer in any of our public buildings or schools. Even if it’s just a response to a meme circulating on Facebook.
Whatever it is that calls us to be our strongest, emboldened selves, we need to listen to it. It might be our religion, our faith, our spirituality, our moral compass, our humanity. Whatever it is, we need to listen, and respond to it.
There isn’t a major world religion that doesn’t have the “golden rule” as one of its main tenants. The golden rule is essentially a rule for justice and equality. Humanists, Animists and Atheists would likely agree that caring for others is a basic principle of a well-intentioned life, and pursuing equality for all is an extension of that. His Holiness the Dalai Lama has said, “My religion is simple. My religion is kindness.” There’s a start. We can make kindness our primary intention. John Lewis stated in his last op-ed piece, that he requested be printed the day of his funeral, “Answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe in.” He concluded: “So I say to you, walk with the wind, brothers and sisters, and let the spirit of peace and the power of everlasting love be your guide.” It’s that simple, and it’s that complicated. And I will let Ruth be my guide, as I continue to travel with her bobbing likeness on my dashboard.