America turned 250 last month, and I’ve been thinking a lot about the people we celebrate and exult in this country, especially those on our money and those carved into a mountain. The individuals that we think made an accomplishment so huge, we are willing to look over the fact that they were indeed terrible people.
George Washington: Yeah, first president, impressive. But, he also enslaved more than 300 humans. In my mind, that doesn’t equate with a morally sound hero. In fact, the person who should be up there is Ona Judge, the bad ass woman enslaved by Washington who ultimately escaped to freedom in New Hampshire. Washington hunted her down but never captured her.
Thomas Jefferson? I prefer to see Sally Hemmings up there, her name emblazoned in rock for what she endured as the enslaved half sister of Jefferson’s wife. Which just makes the entire situation even more messed up. Sally wasn’t even formally freed when Jefferson died because he didn’t write it in his will. But what do you expect from a man that enslaved his own children that he fathered with Sally. Oh, and Sally is believed to have been a young teenager when Jefferson started raping her, a man around 30 years her senior. Sure, let’s put that stellar gentleman on the rock monument.
Theodore Roosevelt, the dude was rugged and he read a book or two a day, supposedly. That’s admirable. He was shot while campaigning for the presidency and finished his speech with a bullet in his chest. Interesting? Absolutely! But, why celebrate male stubbornness with a gigantic sculpture? He did work to preserve nature and for that fact alone, I would leave him up there, but his profile would recede in the background, rows behind other men and women who accomplished things in the name of social justice and equality. He belongs two or three rows behind Shirley Chisolm and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Abraham Lincoln, the one president I learned about in public school that seemed the most moral. But, let’s be honest, he wasn’t totally innocent either. He was still a white man, living in a white world, in the 1800s. Emancipation Proclamation? Yes, that secures his presence on the mountain, next to Theordore Roosevelt, but I would also like it celebrated that he held seances at the White House, and that is pretty fantastic, if you ask me. He also had two pet goats at the White House, which is adorable. It’s even rumored that his cat ate at the dinner table with the family. So yes, he belongs up on Mt. Rushmore.
More than anything, I think the unknown humans, who do good things everyday, deserve to be up there. Front row and center. First person I would add? The Giant Eagle cashier that literally high fived each and every one of her customers in line the other day. For no reason other than she wanted to. That high five made my freaking day.
I would also like to add a former student of mine to the monument. A kid from Bethel Park, a suburb of Pittsburgh, who, when he was twelve, saved a small bug at the wave pool. Declaring to me that while it was a small life, it was an important life. The kid also stated on various occasions that trains were the “backbone to our society” and that needs to be highlighted.
Let’s not forget the teachers in the classroom, trying every day to teach in an environment that is unpredictable, challenging, and has few wins compared to losses. The wins though, those make the heart of this career choice. The kid who opens up, the one who grasps a concept they struggled with, the one that looks at you and says “Thank you,” for being their teacher or for any other damn reason. The losses pile up. Administrations that don’t support educators, a president who is continually breaking down the education system and taking away programs like Head Start and free meals for kids, the banning of books, restrictive curriculum, standardized tests that don’t celebrate the individual student but instead looks at our future as a glob of numbers. The teachers? They belong on a national monument.
Then, there are the nurses and doctors, anyone who dedicates their life to taking care of others. Each nurse that greeted my loved ones with care and compassion when they were in the hospital, each one who worked with a gentle hand and an open heart. The nurses who served in wars and got little recognition. The nurses who show up every day, despite the challenges in their own lives. This is yet another profession that does not get the respect it deserves, much like educators. Let’s really celebrate the individuals who keep us alive and make sure our minds and hearts are taken care of.
I want to say that America got it wrong. And, in many ways, we did. But each day, when I take the time to look, I find something beautiful in my neighborhood. Whether it’s the stranger that stopped one morning to help a buck get free from the iron gate at the local cemetery he was stuck in, the people who go out of their way to support others, the ones who still smile at strangers, the ones who can see through the bullshit and recognize that taking care of each other, in both big and small ways, is what counts. The individuals and families that go out of their way to protect others, to help those struggling, the ones who recognize that leading life from the heart, instead of judgement and division, is what matters most. That is who I celebrate. This is my Mt. Rushmore.
Stefanie Wielkopolan 