"IN PRAISE OF FAMOUS PEOPLE"
Reverend Ginger Luke
River Road Unitarian Church
Sunday, December 31, 2006
The last day of the year -- it is a time to look back, to remember, in some ways almost to relive our lives through those rememberings. The recent death of President Gerald Ford has called us into some of this remembering even more. Each of us has our own private rememberings, and there are rememberings of our entire society, often marked by the death of famous people -- people who have been in the news and in our view. Sometimes they seem larger than life and yet when we think about it most of those larger-than-life folks depended in great degree on ordinary people like you and me to assist them in their accomplishments and in their gifts to our society. You may have heard me say that as I grow older, these people seem somewhat closer to me because I have lived some of the life they have lived. Let us take a look at just a few.
This morning I would like to begin with the women. The work of Betty Friedan in raising up the "women's movement" in this country can be credited in strong part to the fact that more that half of the Unitarian Universalist seminary candidates are women today. Because of Betty Friedan and the women's movement she so strongly spoke for, women in this country have been empowered to imagine doing things they would have thought impossible fifty years ago -- like running for president and administering large brokerage firms, conducting an orchestra, and oh, so much more. Her book, The Feminine Mystique, changed American society, woke up a lot of people, both male and female, and moved the conversation about women's lives into contemporary dialogue. She died on February 4th at age 85. What a gift her life was to us all.
Another woman who changed the face of this country was Coretta Scott King, who died January 31st. She was a fine musician, an extraordinary wife to Martin Luther King, Jr., the founder of the King Center, and a long time human rights crusader. There was a dignity and a determination, a power and a grace about her, that was so apparent in the public arena. She was a model for what many of us wished we had or could develop.
Other women who died this year and leave a strong legacy include Dana Reeve, an actress-singer who became best known for the devotion she gave to her husband Christopher Reeve after he was paralyzed, and for her work lobbying for stem-cell research.
And Katherine Dunham, the choreographer and dancer who brought African influences into U.S. dance. She had done extensive work in East St. Louis to provide art experiences for the underprivileged children there. We Unitarian Universalists were in St. Louis at our annual General Assembly when her memorial service was held and major tributes were given to her. She was 96 years old and had been lifting up African Americans in this country throughout the hard times of segregation, the civil rights movement and more. She was the first African American to graduate with advanced degrees from the University of Chicago. She was a symbol of African American excellence -- admired by the entire world. And her work changed the face of American dance -- it was no longer only a formal European ballet genre.
Jeane Kirkpatrick, the first woman to be the U.S. permanent envoy to the United Nations (which was during the Reagan administration), was also a woman with a keen mind and wit in international politics and diplomacy.
And Ann Richards, that strong, fiery governor of Texas, who spoke what many thought in her critique of the President, died in September.
There were the women artists and musicians who shaped us by their art and personalities. Wendy Wasserstein, the playwright and feminist celebrated women's lives and wrote The Heidi Chronicles. Sarah Caldwell started the Opera Company of Boston and was one of the first women opera conductors in this country. Betty Comden collaborated with Adolph Green in the classic production of Singin' in the Rain. Included are musicians like jazz vocalist Anita O"Day, and Georgia Gibbs with her hit-making songs "Kiss of Fire" and "Dance With Me, Henry." Elisabeth Schwartzkopf, the classical soprano of global fame, died this August. You may have to be pretty old to even remember or know of some of the movie and TV stars who died this year: Shelley Winters, Maureen Stapleton, June Allyson, and Jane Wyatt.
There is another woman I would like to mention. I suppose it would be more appropriate to call her infamous rather than famous, but throughout my life when people talked about World War II, her name would be voiced -- Iva Toguri D'Aquino was her name but allegedly she was known as "Tokyo Rose." She was convicted of treason and later pardoned.
There were women athletes too: Susan Butcher was a four-time Iditarod sled dog race winner. Golf pioneer Patty Berg died at 88, having won 15 major LPGA titles.
There were also people who died this year who do not deserve our praises, but whose deeds, often horrific, did shape our lives and it is appropriate that we not forget. Slobodan Milosevic, the former Yugoslav leader who was accused of orchestrating conflict that killed 250,000 people. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq; Alfredo Stroessner, who ruled Paraguay for decades with mean nerve and force; Ta Mok, the Cambodian known as "The Butcher;" and finally General Augusto Pinochet, the Chilean leader who terrorized opponents and took power in a bloody coup.
There is another I would like to put in this category of not wanting to praise. I think to ignore the hurt and destruction done by this man seems irresponsible. That man is Kenneth Lay, the founder and one of the destroyers of the Enron company.
And the most recent of these infamous deaths is Saddam Hussein, who was executed yesterday. Saddam Hussein, the dictator of Iraq before the U.S. invaded, was a man of heinous acts of cruelty and violence. The power of these acts not only maimed, killed and terrorized people, but, in my opinion, it warped the thinking of leaders and people in the United States to use their fear and hate of his acts to justify acts of violence and torture never before declared as "legal" in U.S. practice. Violence breeds violence, and Saddam Hussein's acts continued to prove that, as does the activity of many of the Iraqi people themselves in recent days. The killing in Iraq must stop, and in my mind, hanging Saddam Hussein, as was done yesterday, does not seem to be a good way to encourage the stopping of the killing. You have heard me say before that I am opposed to the death penalty. I am opposed to the death penalty for even the worst offenses because it demeans and diminishes each of us when we are brought down to the level of supporting or becoming killers ourselves. Yes, the influence of Saddam Hussein will live on for a long, long time in the life and history of the United States and its people, as well as the rest of the world. And all of it is a very sad and painful history. Let us pray we learn how to heal from this trauma and hurt.
On a brighter note, there are people whose names you probably do not recognize, but whose contributions to our society were great. They include "Sonny" Montgomery, a fifteen-term Mississippi congressman who pushed through a modernized G.I. Bill, giving the opportunity for education and training to many; Dr. Norman Shumway, who performed the first successful heart transplant in the U.S.; Otis Chandler, the man who turned The Los Angeles Times into one of the nation's most distinguished newspapers. (He may be turning over in his grave to see what is happening to The Times today.); James Van Allen, a physicist and leader in space exploration, who developed instruments to record conditions in space and discovered the Van Allen radiation belt; Dr. Mason Andrews, who delivered the nation's first test-tube baby; Frank Stanton, who was the president of CBS for 26 years; and David Stemple, who helped develop compilers, including the first FORTRAN compiler, which were milestones in making computers accessible to more people.
Economists Milton Friedman and John Kenneth Galbraith both died this year. They were philosophical opposites, and my favorite was Galbraith. He thought this country could take care of its people responsibly, promote opportunity and be a leader in the world too. And he had plans to make it happen. It was his style I loved. I remember watching him in a TV discussion with Senator Barry Goldwater once. They strongly disagreed, and yet a respect for each other was apparent throughout the dialogue. It was a civil, intellectual addressing of an issue -- if only we could have more of that today.
William Sloane Coffin died this year. He was a former Yale chaplain, known for his Vietnam era activism and his activity in interfaith participation against the current Iraq war. He was one of the Reverend Bill Sinkford's professors and often spoke to Unitarian Universalist gatherings.
Thurl Metzger was the longtime leader of the Heifer International -- the Heifer Project -- the idea of giving livestock to the poor in honor of someone. It is the program our Alternative Gifts Fair is modeled after.
Naguib Mahfouz, who died at 94, was the first Arab writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Nam June Paik was an avant-garde artist credited with inventing video art. Think what an influence that has on us today.
Other famous authors and illustrators died this year, including William Styron, Pulitzer-winning novelist for The Confessions of Nat Turner; Dame Muriel Spark, the British novelist who wrote The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Mickey Spillane, who wrote those popular mysteries featuring detective Mike Hammer, and Alan J. Shalleck the illustrator who collaborated with Margaret Rey on some of the Curious George children's books. Joe Barbera, who with Bill Hanna, created Yogi Bear, Tom and Jerry, and many other Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters.
Joe Rosenthal, the Associated Press photojournalist who took the famous pictures of the flag-raising on Iwo Jima, died this year.
There were many movie and TV personalities who died this year, too.
I remember Dennis Weaver as "Chester" in Gunsmoke. Younger people might remember him as police detective "McCloud." Don Knotts, Red Buttons, Glenn Ford, Darren McGavin, Aaron Spelling, Jack Palance, Peter Boyle, Hollywood's first major black director, Gordon Parks (the director of Shaft); director Robert Altman.
And the athletes: Bob Mathias was a two-time Olympic decathlon champion, as well as a California Congressman. One of college football's great coaches, Bo Schembechler from Michigan; Larry Sherry, a Dodger who was the 1959 World Series' most valuable player; Lamar Hunt, owner of the Kansas City Chiefs and credited with coining the word "Super Bowl;" Floyd Patterson, heavyweight boxing champion; Kirby Puckett, who while I lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota, carried the Minnesota Twins to two World Series titles.
The founder of Atlantic Records and man who popularized Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin, Ahmet Ertegun, died this year. Trumpeter Maynard Ferguson also died this year. But the most famous singer was probably James Brown, who was more than a singer, more even that his title "Godfather of Soul." James Brown made African Americans in the United States proud to be black -- proud to be who they were, after over 200 years of being made to feel inferior. We saw the massive expression of love and admiration and realization of what that meant to many this last week during his memorial service.
And voices and faces many of us remember from the television screen who died this year include Louis Rukeyser, with his commentary on business, talk-show host Mike Douglas, and Ed Bradley from 60 Minutes.
Concluding this rememberance is President Gerald Ford -- the man who led this country through the disgraced resignation of Richard Nixon and then pardoned Richard Nixon. I thought that pardon was the right thing to do for this country, and I am always interested in the commentaries that say it cost him getting elected. Looking back on Gerald Ford, I see much more than I did when I was living through his presidency. I thought of him as a rather bumbling (complements of that Chevy Chase TV incident, I suppose), not especially strong -- almost place-holder of a leader. I was glad he was in charge and not Al Haig, but I never truly valued his civility, his humility. The man was not arrogant. How many leaders can we say that about today? His strength, power and wisdom (I would never have used that word "wisdom" back in the 70s to describe him.) came in being a servant of this country for over thirty years. His strength was grounded in his commitment in World War II and in being there when people needed him. He and I had very different fiscal and social policy ideas, but there seems today to be something about his caring about this country that I resonate with. I was always irritated that it seemed he did nothing but play golf after he retired, and I was delighted to hear of some of interviews released this last week. Because, you know, I don't think he would have ordered the invasion of Iraq. He had more vision than I gave him credit for.
And that leads me to the last of those I would like to honor who have died this year. Of the 2998 United States military personnel who have died in Iraq since the war began, 818 of them died in 2006. And over 25 times as many Iraqis have died. Let us pray that by this time next year the counting will have stopped, the killing and dying will have stopped. Let us pray for a truly more peaceful new year.
All the people I have mentioned have shaped our world and who were are. They are but a sample of the remarkable people who make up our world. Remembering them invites us to take a new look at our lives and how we are shaping them. It is good to reflect for "Auld Lang Syne." And now again we take up the world these people have helped create and continue to make a difference and change our world.
As Stephen Spender said:
The names of those who in their lives fought for life,
Who wore at their hearts the fire's center.
Born of the sun they traveled a short while towards the sun
And left the vivid air signed with their honor.And in that vivid air we do indeed acknowledge their honor -- in praise of famous people.
Benediction #680
Because of those who came before,
we are;
in spite of their failings,
we believe;
because of, and in spite of the horizons of their vision,
we, too, dream.
Let us go remembering to praise,
to live in the moment,
to love mightily,
to bow to the mystery.-Barbara Pescan