Miss Willie, Mr. Smith, and Super Tuesday
The first political words that I ever remember hearing came from Miss Willie, the elderly widow who lived next door while I was growing up. I don’t remember what she said, but her meaning was clear to my young ears: Miss Willie did not like President John F. Kennedy.
I was just under seven years old when President Kennedy was elected and just shy of ten when he was assassinated. People of my generation and the generation before me speak of remembering where they were when they heard the news. I know I was at school when I learned about it, but that memory isn’t my most vivid one from the time. My most vivid memory is my wondering heart: how did Miss Willie feel now?
It’s really quite sad that my first political realization was a negative one. I’m guessing that I am not the only child whose experience was or is the same.
In thinking about politics and voting and candidates last night in anticipation of trying to say something meaningful to you about it today, I thought about New Testament instructions about who should lead God’s church. In his letter to Titus, Paul instructs Titus to appoint elders in every city. He then lists qualities those elders should have, including these:
For the overseer must be above reproach as God’s steward, not self-willed,
not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain,
but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled,
holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching,
so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and
to refute those who contradict.
Titus 1:7-9
We certainly can’t bind these requirements on a president of the United States, but the excellent traits in that list would be wonderful to see in the White House. In fact, imagine how wonderful it would be if leaders in every walk of life:
- were above reproach.
- were not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious (that means being a quarrelsome person; I had to look it up, too!), and not fond of sordid gain (sordid means very bad).
- were hospitable.
- loved what is good.
- were sensible, just, devout, and self-controlled.
Those traits remind me of what President John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail. Adams was the first president to live in the White House. When he wrote to Abigail on his second night there, he included these words:
Before I end my letter, I pray Heaven to bestow the best of Blessings on this House and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise Men ever rule under this roof.
News about the presidential campaign in the last few weeks has reminded me of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, starring Jimmy Stewart and released in 1939. We watched that movie several times when we were homeschooling John, Bethany, and Mary Evelyn.
Mr. Smith is an honest and wise man whom the governor of some unnamed state appoints to fill the remaining term of a Senator who has died. This honest and wise man comes face to face with a political machine which will stop at nothing to continue their illegal and corrupt under-the-table deals. When Mr. Smith figures out what the political machine is doing, the machine’s boss tries to bribe Mr. Smith to join them. Mr. Smith refuses and he never backs down even when the political boss wages a cruel political war to crush him. The boss not only “owns” politicians. He owns the media, too, and on his orders the press attacks Mr. Smith with lie after lie.
One of the most powerful scenes comes near the end of the movie when an exhausted Mr. Smith reads from Scripture during a filibuster on the floor of the Senate, while the political machine continues to hammer him. Mr. Smith stands strong even when mailmen deliver bags of letters condemning him (the machine is behind the letters, too). Mr. Smith knows he’s right and he puts what he knows is right before anything else even when it would seem the whole world is against him.
I live in a Super Tuesday state. When I go to the polls that day, all these teachings and experiences will be in my heart.
Righteousness exalts a nation,
But sin is a disgrace to any people.
Proverbs 14:34
We have created two series of short videos (less than 2 minutes each) to introduce From Adam to Us and to spread the world about Uncle Sam and You here near the beginning of this election year. I thought you might enjoy seeing them. We plan to release one video from each series today through Thursday. Here are links to the first video in each series.
My first remembrance of John F. Kennedy’s death, was when I was walking down the street of an Old town in FL, Milton. We were at a friends house. Everyone was in front of the tv. I was 8 years old. I remember feeling very weird. I didn’t know how to feel. I didn’t understand. Back then, children were children. we weren’t “little” adults. I remember feeling funny or scared inside. Now, waiting for tomorrow, It is a prayerful time. It is a scarry time. But, God is still on the throne. Sometimes I think maybe America is getting what the Isrealites got in the old testament, Since the majority of our country does not have the ONE TRUE GOD on the throne, They have all their little gods.