Listening to NPR through endless driving -- that's my ever present lifeline behind the world. Silent, anonymous, yet, like the sounds of BBC radio in pre-dawn hours, it affords me a connection to the world more profound than any social media.
I remember my old job with the nursing home in the dinky town of Potwater, Kan. and driving elderly residents to appointments at places like the Robert J. Dole VA Medical Center in Wichita. Mr. Ferris was the old man I most identified with. He and I had a connection. He liked stuff like NPR and Newsweek magazine, same as me. A lifetime ago, he was a young naval ensign on a ship bound for the Pacific.
Last Monday, on NPR it was reported -- and would be throughout the week -- that long-time U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey died. The senator's office reported that Lautenberg was "the last remaining World War II veteran serving in the Senate." http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/06/03/188291880/sen-frank-lautenberg-dies http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-06-03/local/39702959_1_smoking-ban-domestic-violence-lautenberg http://articles.philly.com/2013-06-05/news/39766836_1_u-s-senate-gun-laws-democratic-senator
I'm always sad to see a good era end. Around eight years ago, I was in a college classroom, preparing to pursue a master's in history, and talking about how only a handful of World War I veterans remained on this earth and how sad it would be when the last one died. Later, the last man did die and one of my favorite bands -- Radiohead -- recorded a tribute.
Now, the last World War II veteran to serve in the U.S. Senate.
One of my greatest thrills as a young newspaper reporter back in the '90s was interviewing the old men around town who had served in World War II -- either in Europe or the Pacific.
One old guy, Mr. Epsom -- once a 19-year-old preparing for the invasion of Japan when it was announced that a bomb had been dropped over Hiroshima -- agreed to meet me at his stomping ground at the VFW near the south edge of that dusty Oklahoma town. He ordered a Bourbon Cherry Seltzer for himself and bought me a Coke as if I were a little boy. (I was around 25, but looked about 16.)
Mr. Epsom talked about how the Depression era farm kid from the country and street fighter from the city had gone off to war. He'd settled down, managed a printing plant in town and did things like coach his kids baseball teams and run for school board.
All this brings me back to Mr. Lautenberg, one of those street kids who went on to a career and public service.
Born in Patterson, N.J., the son of poor Russian and Polish Jewish immigrants, Lautenberg had a hardscrabble childhood and "grew up feisty and strong-willed, rarely shying away from a good scrape," the New Jersey Star-Ledger reported.
Lautenberg took care of his mother and sister after his father died, working, while finishing high school. At age 18, he joined the U.S. Army Signal Corps. and was stationed in Europe. Like so many other young men returning from the war, he went to college on the GI Bill. In 1949, his degree in economics was handed to him by Dwight D. Eisenhower, then president of Columbia University.
Years later, as a successful businessman, he landed a spot on Nixon's "enemies list" after donating $90,000 to the Great Plains Populist George McGovern in his '72 presidential bid.
Lautenberg launched his senate career in 1982. He never chaired a committee, nor sought the limelight, but worked hard behind the scenes, pushing for things like mass transit, highway and aviation safety, championed organized labor and increasing veterans' benefits.
I learned this past week that Lautenberg is the guy to
thank for clean air on domestic flights. A former two-pack-a-day smoker, he authored legislation that banned smoking on commercial domestic flights. And this was back in the '80s when wonderful bodies like Phillip Morris and R.J. Reynolds had a hold on Congress similar to what the NRA has today.
Oh he was progressive on gun control as well. He authored a bill that would prevent domestic abuse violators from owning firearms. In 2003, he voted against invading Iraq.
Isn't it funny how veterans are usually the most opposed to sending young soldiers into combat, while neocons like Dick Cheney, who never wore a uniform in his life, tend to be the most vociferous at beating the war drum?
Sacrifice and public service. Those are the qualities that personified the men and women of The Greatest Generation.
Just yesterday, Democratic U.S. Rep. John Dingell, Jr., of Michigan, became the longest serving member of Congress -- 57 years, five months, 25 days. This 86-year-old started serving in 1955, somewhere around the time Bill Haley and the Comets were climbing the charts with Rock Around the Clock. Dingell took over the Congressional seat his father had occupied since 1933. http://www.npr.org/2013/06/06/189270809/michigan-congressman-to-become-longest-serving-member
Among that generation, I'm sure there have been many conscientious servants on both sides of the aisle. Dingell told npr that the passage of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act were his proudest moments in public life and rightly so. That legislation represented the pinnacle of bipartiasianship and social amelioration in the political arena.
You probably never heard of Lautenberg or Dingell, but I bet you've heard of Michele Bachmann, the arch-conservative representative from Minnesota who made news by announcing she wasn't seeking another term. She never effected squat for legislation, yet she became a celebrity, manipulating that same media she stonewalled. She represents the anti-public service view.
Nowadays, we have people who would have you believe compromise and government are dirty words. Really? When you were 3-years-old and jostling for toys in the pre-school playroom, didn't you have to learn compromise? And government? Doesn't someone have to build the roads and make sure our schools and workplaces are safe and free of disease?
Is government not about meeting the needs of society? Didn't the generation that had to ration coffee, metal and sugar during World War II know something about that? Heck, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, Ike Eisenhower, came back to America, got elected President and built the interstate highways.
That's what government does: public service. It's only been that way since ancient freakin' Mesopotamia. I guess government-haters think holding office is about self-service or serving the rich.
But that's not the world our grandparents knew.
A few months back, my old newspaper pal Mike, now a city council member, commented on the flower bed at a local park. A local civic organization has maintained those brilliant-colored flowers for years, but most of the people in that group are in their 80s and above.
"They're gonna die off and this younger generation isn't into community activity," Mike said.
 |
| U.N. -- Think globally, act locally. |
Okay, so things are different now. We have facebook. But doesn't facebook update me about volunteer clean-up dates for a group that's building a bike path/walking trail between my town and another in the county? Can I and others use modern life to activate good old fashioned community spirit?
Let's hope so. Going into this next week, I'm itching to fight the good fight.
Oh, and I think I'll tell my friend Allen that I'm available to volunteer at the World War II Museum.
