We need more John Adamses

I have recently finished watching the HBO series “John Adams,” and I feel equal parts embarrassed, ashamed, inspired, blessed, cursed, ecstatic, and saddened.

What has our country come to?

It’s not a political comment.  What I’m talking about is us.  Americans.  People in general.

What have we come to?

Watching “John Adams” has inspired me (which, as my wife will tell you, happens every time I watch any type of good movie based in fact) to go do my own research.  I’ve been reading some of the correspondence between Adams, his wife, Abagail, and Thomas Jefferson.

Let me tell you what.  Those were some thinkers, movers, and doers.  People who treated each other with respect and courtesy.  Who used their God-given talents to the betterment of their neighbors.  Who didn’t whine about their circumstances, but, if they needed improvement, improved them.

And what about us today?  We enjoy advantages and luxuries that folks of Adams’ era couldn’t even imagine.  Light when we want it.  Heat when we feel cold.  Packaged food at our fingertips.  Instant communication.  Our forefathers provided us with every advantage, yet most of us spend our time complaining about how difficult our lives are.  We should be ashamed.

Adams and Jefferson were people who treated their education and critical thinking with the same attention as breathing and eating.  They used their natural talents to the UTMOST.  And, despite their differences and what must have been a difficult time in which to live, they never lost their courtesies and love for one another.

The two Presidents — second and third — became almost bitter enemies for a time.  They were miles apart philosophically, save for their passion for their country, as evidenced by their tireless work for and dogged insistence upon America’s independence.

But in their later years, they began an amazing correspondence.  When Abagail Adams died in, I believe, 1818, Jefferson sent to his old friend a letter which, quite simply, makes me cry. (Go here to read it.)  Placing myself in the shoes of Adams at the time of his receiving this letter (which is sad and scary and not something I’ve spent much time doing), I imagine he must have received incredible comfort by reading it and knowing that, in spite of their professional differences, he was still in the thoughts and prayers of his old friend.

This Independence Day, I would ask you to read the Declaration of Independence aloud and give some real thought to the patriots who had the guts to create our country in light of overwhelming negative odds.  It was these brilliant souls who provided us with the opportunity to complain openly about our leaders and government and not visit the gallows for our trouble. God bless ’em.