Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass profoundly stated, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”
Charles Blow, a New York Times columnist subsequently observed, “The statement is simple, profound, and as true as truth can be. And yet we as a society and as individual families neglect the building, facilitate the breaking, and balk at the cost and commitment of the repair.”
Gratefully, I can recall a time not that long ago, when American society and families had the intent and will to build strong children.
My parents, who were of the greatest generation, suffered more than most in their lives, and that is saying something about a generation whose character and fortitude were forged in the furnace of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl and World War II. Although my father passed away when I was 9, his life example and society and culture, in general, gave me plenty of support, direction, and encouragement to work hard and live uprightly.
Back in the ’60s, we were still taught to venerate our founding fathers and other great men, such as Abraham Lincoln. Every morning we recited the Pledge of Allegiance and sang:
My country tis of thee,
sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing.’
Land where my fathers died,
land of the pilgrim’s pride,
From every mountainside,
Let freedom ring.
In second grade, I got a D in music for singing the loudest and carrying the class off key every morning on this song that was once considered our national anthem.
While watching television back then, as hokey as people think it was by today’s standards, it was impossible not to hear life lessons in morality, honesty, and integrity from the likes of “Father Knows Best” and “Leave it to Beaver.” Superman’s motto was “Truth, Justice and the American Way.”
Roy Rogers Riders Club Rules were: “Be neat and clean. Be courteous and polite. Always obey your parents. Protect the weak and help them. Be brave but never take chances. Study hard and learn all you can. Be kind to animals and take care of them. Eat all your food and never waste any. Love God, and go to Sunday school regularly. Always respect our flag and our country.”
In my catechism class, I memorized a prayer I recited for decades, “My God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee. And I detest all my sins because of Thy just punishment. But most of all because they offend Thee. My God, who art all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to sin no more and avoid the near occasions of sin.”
In my Cub Scout troop, I memorized this oath, “On my honor, I will do my best To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.”
My generation (baby boomers!) may have been one of the last that included all the following: parents of noble character that valued marriage for life, a school system that focused on the fundamentals (including values and patriotism), entertainment that inspired morals and ethics, and a faith that provided an eternal perspective on life.
Let us remember and heed the words of one founding father, John Adams, who admonished, “It should be your care, therefore, and mine, to elevate the minds of your children and exalt their courage; to accelerate and animate their industry and activity; to excite in them an habitual contempt of meanness, abhorrence of injustice and inhumanity, and an ambition to excel in every capacity, faculty and virtue. If we suffer their minds to grovel and creep in infancy, they will grovel all their lives.”
Andy Caldwell is the COLAB executive director and host of “The Andy Caldwell Show,” airing 3 to 5 p.m. weekdays on KZSB AM 1290, the News-Press radio station.
