Mrs. Ramsey and American History

I have come to the conclusion that I was not a normal 8th grader.  Soon after that conclusion I came to a second conclusion that there is no such thing as a normal 8th grader. (Except for that group of girls who never looked awkward, and managed to skate their way through adolescence.)  My favorite television show in 8th grade was The West Wing.  I loved it.  I didn't understand a lot of things they were talking about, but I loved it.  I wanted to be CJ Cregg, The White House Press Secretary (see what I mean about not normal).  The West Wing was on  Wednesday nights, so Thursday mornings before 2nd period American History class Mrs. Ramsey and I would discuss the previous night's episode.

Mrs. Ramsey is one of my favorite teachers.  I really liked all of my social studies teachers, but she was my favorite.  It is funny what you realize when you are older that you had no idea of when you were younger. For example, I know now that Mrs. Ramsey smokes.  She never smelled like smoke but she sounds kind of like Roz on Monster's Inc.  She also had long finger nails that she would click together when she was really emphasizing a point.  She was (and I am sure still is) a fantastic teacher.  Mrs. Ramsey was passionate, and a liberal democrat (rare for Indiana), and made middle schoolers care about history and politics.

The fall of my 8th grade year was the 2000 presidential election between George Bush and Al Gore.  I remember staying up really late waiting to see the results and falling asleep and then waking up to a still undecided election.  As I walked into Mrs. Ramsey's class that Wednesday morning I knew it was going to be an interesting class.  As we sat down she flipped on the TV and said, "Sit down and be quiet.  We're watching history in the making."

The combination of Mrs. Ramsey, American History and The West Wing sparked something - optimism of what our country was founded on and what it could be now.  Ideas, change and all of that good stuff was inspiring and exciting.  As time has moved on it was easy to become cynical and not really care about politics and government.  Then there are events that happen where it is hard to think of much else.

Wednesday night I watched President Obama's speech in Arizona. It reminded me of Mrs. Ramsey and her passion and excitement that she instilled in me.  It reminded me of the optimism and idealism, and it was a good reminder of what we can be, and what we should be.

"We should be civil because we want to live up to the example of public servants like John Roll and Gabby Giffords, who knew first and foremost that we are all Americans, and that we can question each other's ideas without questioning each other's love of country and that our task, working together, is to constantly widen the circle of our concern so that we bequeath the American Dream to future generations. 

They believed -- they believed, and I believe that we can be better. Those who died here, those who saved life here -- they help me believe. We may not be able to stop all evil in the world, but I know that how we treat one another, that's entirely up to us. 

And I believe that for all our imperfections, we are full of decency and goodness, and that the forces that divide us are not as strong as those that unite us."