I vividly remember watching Archie Bunker in All in the Family beginning in college and stretching nearly 10 years to 1980. Archie was a bigot toward a very diverse group of individuals; Blacks, Hispanics, gays, hippies, Jews, Asians, Catholics, women’s libbers and Polish-Americans to mention a few. Archie’s son in law, who he often called meat head, was a liberal. Archie loved his wife but treated her with disdain often telling her to stifle herself and dummy up. Norman Lear created the show and revealed that Archie was inspired by his own father. It turns out Archie loves his family, his country and his wife and is a pretty likeable guy as he slowly understands how to cope with a rapidly changing world.
Norman Lear just celebrated his 100th birthday. “I wake up every morning grateful to be alive,” says Lear. Lear goes on to say that he is a bit worried that he may be in better shape than our democracy. Lear was troubled by the January sixth attack by the supporters of Trump and more so with every revelation about how far the former President was willing to go to stay in office. Lear is concerned about authoritarianism. He dropped out of college when the Japanese attached Pearl Harbor and joined the Air Force. Lear recalls flying over 50 missions in a B-17 bomber to defeat fascism. Lear says he is a flag waiving believer in truth, justice and the American way.
Lear theorizes that Archie today may watch Fox News and likely voted for Trump. However, he believes the site of the American Flag being used to attack the Capital police would have sickened him. Lear said, “the resolve shown by Representative Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, and their commitment to exposing the truth would have won Archie’s respect.”
There is much more wisdom in the July 27th, New York Times Guest Essay by Mr. Lear, I encourage you to take the time to read it.
A family member recently posted some clever things to consider that brightened my day.
“What if my dog only brings back the ball because she thinks I like throwing it?” Or, “maybe oxygen is slowly killing you and it just takes 75 to 100 years to fully work.”
Keep it together. Mike