Since I believe that one must never be so set in her ways that she denies herself the chance to learn a new perspective, I set out to meet the not-so-young women of the Daughters of the American Revolution this morning. While my undying father prepares for his death, he passed down a folder of papers linking us to a soldier in the American Revolution. I found my Great Aunt Mary's DAR membership card for the Biscayne Chapter, and I learned my 2nd cousin Myra partakes in South Carolina.
They do what?
Other than tracing their ancestry to warriors, I am not so certain my role in this Club. Do I have profound respect for the military? Not so much. Am I proud that my Great Great Grandfather's Last Will & Testament bequeaths his "nigger-girl" to his son? Emphatically NO. Can I hold my hand over my heart and actually sing all the words to America the Beautiful? Not without a detectable amount of sarcasm.
Since I had to bring and attend to my wiggle-happy son, my information gathering consisted of: a. DAR plays a very active role volunteering with Veterans; and b. they have a remarkably attentive Minutes taker (whose rendition of last month's 2 hour meeting took 20 minutes to report). Is this something I should be involved in (see #10)? After all, if things keep moving towards Theocracy and the Caste system here in the United States, I might be changing my passport. But then again, just because I don't like the cover of a book, doesn't mean I won't bother checking it out.
Let's see what I learn.
3 comments:
Another similarity....Ahhh the DAR. My mother is/was a member of the DAR and I am/was a member of the CAR. Gosh, I even held a POSITION at one time - treasurer or something of the sort. Real fun stuff, lemme tell ya. Ahem. Being from the deep south, it meant that we (C.A.R. members) dressed up in old fashioned dresses - hoop skirts, mind you - and stood around in antebellum homes spitting out the page or two of facts about that room we had just committed to short-term memory. In 105 degree heat. In hoop skirts. Ahhh, yes, those were the days.
Hi, it's me. I wandered over here from SMR. My ancestors include Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration of Independence and Abigail Adams, wife of John. I am delighted...they KNEW each other. I am incredibly proud of this country and of the document my ancestor (Rush) signed. I am forever a believer in what they envisioned.
Welcome! That is interesting! It's always fascinating to research ancestors. I certainly have respect for the work that our founders did, however, I am not so optimistic to believe that their every intention or action was altruistic - even if it worked out for the benefit of others. Collective memory is never as accurate as your own individual memory, so I don't always trust history as it is written. With hundreds of years separating us, it's easy to gloss over their ugly sides (think: slavery, women's 2nd class status, land theft, etc.)
Then again, I love this country because I have the freedom to safely disagree with and question our ancestors in the same way I can disagree with current politicians.
But perhaps, I was unnerved by DAR because upon meeting an elderly woman who happened to be my neighbor, she asked me if I had heard about "the nigger that robbed the house near us." She seemed mighty comfortable using that message in the setting of DAR - made me question their real reason for worshiping old veterans: longing for the "good ol' confederate days?"
No thank you.
sorry - didn't mean to write so much. anyway, thanks for stopping by
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