At the start of summer vacation we have an annual tradition with our daughter of going to a local pottery painting place and picking an item out to paint, usually something small, and usually I just let her do one, but this year I decided to do one also.

While I was working on my masterpiece, deciding which part to paint what color, and letting my thoughts drift to current events, I was reminded of something I heard years ago…that each generation gets to re-make the country in its own image, and that we must sculpt wisely.

Later in the month, while I was re-watching Ken Burns’ Baseball documentary about the history of professional baseball, one of the participants said that 1,000 years from now the only cultural things America will be remembered for are: the constitution, jazz, and baseball.

I would like to think it will be a few more things than that, but it’s a great top three. But then I also immediately thought of how sad that 30 years after that documentary first aired, the first item, the constitution, is under serious threat, and might not even make it to the 1,000 year mark.

I’m sure if you suggested that to someone, including the speaker who said it, back in 1994, they would have thought you were crazy. Nevertheless, here we are.

I think often about how George Washington specifically chose the word “President” because it has a more passive meaning of “presiding over” such as he did during the Constitutional Convention.

He didn’t direct it, and didn’t actively lead it. He set the tone and made sure everyone followed the rules.

How far we have fallen from that ideal for our chief executive to today’s current wannabe dictator (and if SCOTUS and the lap dog Congress have their way, we will be able to drop the “wannabe” sooner rather than later).

Lastly, this past week I finally made a trip to see General Grant’s Tomb in New York City. It’s so ironic that I grew up on and lived on Long Island until the age of 23, even went to Columbia University every day for 6 weeks the summer before my senior year of high school for a summer program, and never once realized or thought about trying to go see it when it’s only 4 blocks from Columbia.

It has only been over my adulthood as I learned more and more about the civil war and Grant’s own life that I became a huge fan of his, but of course now I live 1,000 miles away.

As my family and I were walking towards it last week it struck me how much things can change in 125+ years. Back then, Grant’s Tomb was one of the top tourist attractions in New York City.

Today it is just an afterthought, and we were the only 3 visitors while we were there. At the top of the building in huge letters are Grant’s own words “Let Us Have Peace”.

As I have mentioned in a prior blog post, I’ve been to many ex-Presidents’ graves, and as I did with the others, I said a silent prayer thanking God for Ulysses Grant and for his wife Julia who lays beside him and their sacrifices and service to our nation.

And I hope that as Branch Rickey had the courage to break the color barrier in baseball in 1947 by signing Jackie Robinson, that my fellow citizens in positions of power will find the same courage to stand up to tyranny and autocracy and re-commit themselves to the rules of law and basic human decency.

Above all, I hope this generation sculpts its America wisely.