Talking To

 I have been without a mother and a father now for a couple years, and one of the things that I confess that I miss is getting a good old parental talking to. I have spent my life quietly replaying those words of mild correction, encouragement, and reminder over in my head to keep my feet on a path that would lead me on the straight and narrow. 

Obviously, sometimes I strayed. Which is exactly when those words came most handy. I could have turned to other sources, but those personally delivered hand-selected phrases made the most impact. Now they appear in monologues I share with my son, and with the students I teach. 

I was jogged into the memory of those speeches as I watched the Obamas take the stage at the Democratic Convention on Tuesday night. It made me remember a time when Hope and Change were not just words on a poster. They were tangible things. They were there for the taking, but they did not come simply for the asking. They required effort. "We" was the pronoun, and for a relatively short time, we had both. 

Then came the inevitable swing back. When my mother was alive, she was always good for a reality check. When Trump was installed in the White House, she reminded me that things could still get worse. 

And they did. 

It was that same sort of world-weariness that Michelle and Barack brought to Chicago on Tuesday night that reminded all who listened that the youthful idealism of "when they go low, we go high" may not be enough in the current environment. The assumption made way back then was that "they" had another gear besides "low." Nearly a decade later, we have seen how good MAGA can be at the limbo. The former first lady reminded us of the words Kamala Harris' mother heard from her mother: “Don’t sit around and complain about things — do something!” In much the same fashion, when her husband mentioned the red-capped opposition, the crowd jeered in response. "Don't Boo," he reminded us, "Vote."

The Obamas talked about mourning the passing of an era they helped ring in. Then they reminded us all that it is our responsibility to bring it back. The time has come to get back to work. 

It's time, as a mother once said, to do something.