A back-to-school message from Grammy

Dear Grandchildren,

You’re beginning a new school year. Your world is expanding and you’re asking lots of questions. You watch TV and listen to adults. You discuss what you see and hear with your friends. The talk regarding our president must be confusing. I’ve lived 73 years and what I’m seeing and hearing now is confusing to me and my friends, too.

I’ve voted in every election. As a citizen in a democracy, that’s my privilege and my duty. Sometimes my candidate won, sometimes he (or she) lost. All the presidents in my memory (Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama) have respected the Office of the President. I haven’t always agreed with the things they said or the choices they made, but I had faith that they took the responsibility of leadership seriously and understood the actions they took and the words they spoke could change the lives of real people in the United States and around the world. We know our presidents aren’t perfect and make mistakes. But we expect our presidents to conduct themselves with dignity and respect, to have the welfare of all citizens in mind when making decisions, to understand that actions have consequences, and to make us proud of being Americans.

Your great-grandfather and his brothers fought in World War II to rid the world of the evils of the Nazi white supremacists. Their fellow soldiers in battle were Christians, Jews, Muslims, white, brown and black. He came home from war, raised a family and understood his fellow soldiers wanted the same things in life that he wanted. Our country has been through difficult times. Slavery and prejudice have been a dark part of our country’s history. We struggled through the Civil Rights era and continue to strive toward equality for all citizens.

I am ashamed of the behavior of our current president. You know what’s right and wrong. It’s wrong to call people names. It’s wrong when a man uses disrespectful words to talk about a woman. It’s wrong to tell lies. It’s wrong to ignore racial violence. It’s wrong to judge people by the color of their skin or their religion. It’s wrong to act like a bully.

Our country will get through these times by working together and remembering words in the Declaration of Independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

I believe in our country and our people. It will be through democracy and the “consent of the governed” that we will replace our current leadership. We need to remember that the citizens of our country are more alike than different. We know that in our hearts.

Have a wonderful school year, be open to new ideas and make new friends.

Love,

Grammy

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Leslie Wilde of Hayden taught elementary school for 36 years and is now retired.