George Washington: "Openly Abused"

Dear Mr. President:

You are roundly abused in the media, but you are in august company. In Janet Whitley's biography of Abigail Adams (Little, Brown and Co., 1947) she quotes Abigail as saying, "'Since the last election the President has been openly abused in the National Gazette...abused for his levees as an ape of royalty; Mrs. Washington abused for her drawing-rooms; their celebration of birthdays sneered at; himself insulted because he has not come forward and exerted his influence in favor of the army. They even tell him that a greater misfortune cannot befall a people than for their President to have no competitor; that it infuses into him a supercilious spirit, renders him self-important, and creates an idea that one man only is competent to govern. They compare him to a hyena and a crocodile; charge him with duplicity and deception.'" (pg. 254)

We Americans elect people and then despise them. Being in political office requires a very thick skin.

Hang in there.

Congratulations! You're a Corporal!

Although Veterans' Day honors all veterans, we forget the eleventh day of the eleventh month originally honored the end of what was optimistically called "The War to End All Wars." No one could imagine the human race being so insane as to fight each other after that war of airplanes, gas, and biological warfare. Fighting again would surely destroy the world.

My great-uncle was in that war. He was a country boy, and that was a good things. First, the soldiers were drilling with sticks: there weren't enough guns. My Uncle Roy had hunted his whole life, so he had an obvious advantage over the poor city boys who were shipped to France, handed a gun, and sent into combat.

An officer asked, "Can anybody here drive?" and my Uncle Roy raised his hand. "Congratulations. You're a corporal!" he said.

To all veterans: thank you.