Granny D’s American Century

20 | Lessons from My Century

Lessons from My Century T here were times when I feared I was walking through the last days of the American democracy. I don’t think so anymore. Yes, the necessary human scale of politics is under fire from overlarge corporations and a government that has forgotten its own Bill of Rights, but the energy of people, the organizing tools available to them, and the spirit of freedom will overcome those things. The environment will be saved, too, because we really have no choice but to do so. The main thing to remember is that the nation is the sum of what we do as individuals. If you drive a gas hog, you can’t end wars, no matter whom you vote for. What we do as individuals adds up as national policy, so we have to get ourselves right. And to fight the big fights ahead, we have to be strong and awake. If I may offer some basic advice along that line, it is this: When you wake up in the morning, do actually wake up to the new day around you. Don’t fall victim to the disease of abstraction, thinking that it is simply a cookie-cutter Tuesday or Wednesday or whatever the calendar says, when it is in fact a completely new experience, only borrowing its name for convenience. We are hurtling through an unexplored universe of unimaginable size, and each moment takes us into entirely new territory of space and time. Occasionally it all seems a little too much. I actually do sometimes have to make an effort to engage the new day. Under my covers, I waken. The comfort of a warm bed is weighed against the struggles of old age. I count to one hundred. I do it as fast or slow as I please, but when I get to one hundred, I have to get out of bed, for that is the rule. And once I show up in the new day, I’m fine. I have my tea, and then I look to see how my friends are doing and what we might do to cause some trouble. Gardening and walks, a birdfeeder near your kitchen window, will help you connect with the day. We do ourselves a great favor each morning if we simply go out and walk and experience things for our20 Lessons from My Century 171 selves. We each come from the earth. We grow from it, eat of it, eventually go back to it, and so a good relation with it gives us our daily energy. I walk like a curious child. In fact I think it is good to indulge your immaturity. There is a child in me who, even now, wants to see the other side of the mountain, wants to save the world from a biplane, wants to be in the company of handsome men and fascinating people. Our childhood curiosity, our sexual drive, our sense of adventure, our hunger for a heroic and meaningful life are with us always. You should use that energy. Use it in your imagination, and use it to help you get out of bed. And don’t forget to go to the salon and get the works, plus a new outfit. Know how to wear a hat and a scarf to turn heads. We are simple creatures, and our energy comes from simple places. Guide that energy with some well-considered opinions and, from them, solid values that become more solid over the years with the help of an open mind. Values that get more solid with the help of a closed mind are, of course, a great danger. Good values are the foundation of good leadership—leadership for yourself and those around you. You must be enough in command of your own values to have an opinion about what should be done in the world, what needs doing in the house today, and who should be invited to dinner next Saturday. I did have the great pleasure of being around people who knew just what should be done. My father, then Alan Ayer was like that, and Robert E. Peabody, then my own husband, and dear Elizabeth and Max Foster. My son is like that now. It is amazing what a powerful people-magnet good values are. There was never a weekend at the Dundee farm of the Fosters when there were not two or three professors from Harvard or scientists, astronomers , or writers from the...