God Shed His or Her Grace on Thee...
I got sort of gently chided via e-mail from a reader six months ago. I'd written a Sunday Times essay and had the bad manners to use the word "Americans" to refer to those of us living in the United States. Apparently this is her life's work, seeking out wrong words and attempting to banish them. Sort of like Batman, then.
It did make me pause, at least for a couple of minutes. I knew there was some writer trigger in the back of my scattered brain that sometimes went off when I typed "America" instead of "the United States." It just seemed, sometimes, less accurate, maybe sloppy.
And I got her point. Canadians and Brazilians would be as correct referring to themselves as Americans, I guess, as Swedes and Spainards calling themselves Europeans.
But she was really sort of crazy, I think.
Because we all know what we mean, and that's the purpose of language. I didn't give it any more thought, although I did run it by Michael Main just to see if he'd ever come across this concept in the broadcasting biz.
Everybody knows who Americans are, and they may not like us but I'm pretty sure it's not because we use shorthand.
Anyway, I've been following this AOL/Discovery Channel "election" to name The Greatest American (sorry, Simon Bolivar; maybe next year). I even wrote a sort of tongue-in-cheek (and sort of lame) column on it a few weeks ago. I know it's just a dumb list, and "greatest" is pretty vague, and I knew the usual suspects would shake out at the end. I just thought maybe Tom Cruise and Ellen Degeneres were taking up spots that Paul Revere and Betsy Ross might have wanted. Nothing against Tom and Ellen. I'm sure they're fine Americans.
The final 25 raised my eyebrow a bit, too. George W. Bush, after barely 4 years in office? Mohammed Ali? See what I mean? It's all relative.
But now we have the Final Five, and it's about what I expected. And since this is my blog, I get to tell you what I think, and how I voted (and I did, too; shame on me).
Benjamin Franklin. Well, I'm a big fan of Ben. He was Horatio Alger before Horatio Alger, pulling himself up by his bootstraps, using his natural curiousity and talent to turn into a remarkable man. Back in a time when many viewed lightning strikes as the wrath of God, Ben figured out it was less Divine Intervention and more metal, and invented the lightning rod. Among many other things, including being the only person to sign the Articles of Confederation, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution. A true founder.
Martin Luther King, Jr. I've spoken at several MLK Day services, and he remains a personal hero. A man who put his life on the line, and turned the Gospels into a weapon against oppression and suffering, ranks high in my book. He will always be in my top five.
Abraham Lincoln. So many contradictions. A homely man, getting his photograph taken became a habit for him. An accomplished joke- and story-teller, he was probably chronically depressed most of his life. An avid reader (and citer) of the Bible, he may very well have been an atheist. Possibly the most reviled president (during his lifetime, anyway), he's arguably the most loved. And a peaceful man, he won a war he didn't want and tried to avoid by enlisting Grant ("This man fights") and Sherman to wage relentless and brutal battles that killed thousands, all in an effort to heal.
Ronald Reagan. I wasn't surprised. He inspired affection, even if it came from affectation. He was an actor, after all, and knew how to tilt the head and brush off criticism with a practiced quip ("There he goes again"). The oldest president elected, the one with (currently) the longest life (Gerald Ford is gaining ground), he struck his fans as genial and optimistic and his foes as distant and unengaged. Maybe both. Iran-Contra and a massive debt are his legacies, but so is a waning of the nuclear nightmare; even if it was inevitable, and I certainly never voted for the man so I have some opinions, the Soviet Union began to crumble on his watch, probably in no small part due to the fact that he was seen as uncompromising when faced with values he held dear.
George Washington. His mouth hurt all the time (his dentures were not made of wood, but rhino's tusks, by the way). He lost many more battles during the Revolutionary War than he won. He could be aloof, vain and arrogant. He was, also, the Father of his Country, revered for his leadership and his skill. They were called "patriots," back then, and his had a capital "P." His precedents last to today.
I voted for Abe. It doesn't really matter, I know. I mean, Michael Jackson was in the original 100. How seriously can I take this?
But if I want to play, and I have to decide between a creator, a dreamer, an optimist and a founder, from the beginnings in the late 18th century to almost the 21st, I pick the one who looked back and thought that maybe this wonderful experiment was worth saving.
Place your bets, Americans. Or whatever. You know who I mean.
Whom. Sorry. I think. Subject and object. It's a screwy language.
7:27:11 PM 
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