I'm talking about two seemingly unrelated subjects today. We lost Jean Stapleton last week. A very sad thing. As Edith Bunker she represented something that made America great. A quiet, stubborn dignity and inherent decency that sees us through crisis after crisis with a moral compass that is unshakable. Edith didn't always do the smart thing. She wasn't always the brightest person in the room. She was occasionally gullible. She even allowed Archie to walk all over her sometimes when she shouldn't have. But she was good and loving and hardworking and unselfish. She stood by her husband and family no matter what. She chose her friends based not on the color of their skin but by the content of their character. And as the series went on she learned to stand up to Archie more and fight for what was important to her. She loved her family and despite the fireworks, her family always loved her. They understood that at the end of the day, the family was the most important thing. It was the core. The strength. The foundation. Years later, Rosaanne Barr liked to call herself a "Domestic Goddess". Well, it's just my opinion, but the real Domestic Goddess always was and always will be Edith Bunker. Quiet dignity. Quiet humility that loves rather than bullies or laughs at. Quiet stubborn hard work to keep her family together and taken care of. Those are all old fashioned values that may sometimes be subject to the ridicule of those who are used to a fast-moving electronically connected world, but they are also the glue that holds us together. They are what keeps a roof over our head and food on the table, not to mention the family together at the end of the day. We could do with more of Edith Bunker today.
We also observed the anniversary of the D-Day landings on June 6th. That was a moment when the free world united to put aside our cultural differences and confront and defeat evil. We were not always in complete agreement in our plans or agendas. We did not entirely check our egos at the door. We made mistakes and lives were lost unnecessarily. But we worked together and sacrificed for the greater good. Britain opened her arms and homes and bases to foreign soldiers... indeed, past enemies in order to coordinate and launch an invasion that was under the ultimate command of an American general. Remember that little more than a hundred years before World War Two, America and England were bitter enemies. This was a moment in history when we learned as a civilization that not only is evil enabled and encouraged by appeasement, but that it can only be defeated by putting our differences aside and fighting together. The fight was won not only by brave men in uniform on the beaches of Normandy, but by men and women in England working to coordinate the complex invasion, and by private citizens in France and Germany and all over Europe who risked all to aid the soldiers and hinder the enemy. It was even fought by people at home who conserved vital resources and did without basics so that our soldiers would be provided for. There was no guarantee that the invasion would succeed. Many died before they hit he beach. Some even landed on the wrong beach. But we persisted. We worked together. We fought as one. We sacrificed. And in the end, we didn't just end the war. We won it.
These two subjects actually have a lot in common. We can disagree with each other. We can fight and argue and drive each other crazy. We can make mistakes and be gullible. But we are all one family and we should never compromise on that. Love without condition. Stand by each other. Know when it is important to stop arguing and put differences aside to confront evil. None of us are perfect. The important thing is that we don't let go of the wheel in the middle of a storm. We know inherently what is wrong and what is right. Don't ever deviate from that. And make sure that at the end of the day the family is together.
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