There is a name for an essential group of predominantly female Americans who provide for one or more children under 18 and at least one parent over 65. They are the Sandwich Generation—caught in the middle.
Recent events have added more bread to our national sandwich and put more pressure on all of us—with or without offspring to raise and elders to assist.
Think of our nation as a parent. Our guardian cared for and raised us in relative prosperity when the distance between poor and rich wasn’t as huge.
Our protector didn’t fear an armed student at the local school carrying out a heartbreaking attack. The TV news was real, not imagined and terrifying.
Rage over politics and lifestyles rarely happened in our neighborhood and was infrequent among relatives. Holidays didn’t produce arguments about our elected officials.
The nation’s federal government caretakers are turning upside down and inside out. Something distressing is happening. It is as if our elderly mother, less wise than she used to be, divorced Dad and married the Pied Piper, an ever-angry fellow leading us to perdition.
We are grownups now, in shock at this new world. A signal is out to care for the parent who governed us—let’s call her Lady Liberty—a woman we have counted on forever.
Lady Liberty, the wellspring of the freedom we took for granted, now counts on her children’s love, dedication, and effort to bring her around.
She guaranteed our independence as kids, but now Mom can’t stop an old man who wants the keys to the house, every dollar, and each lever of influence and control.
The gentlewoman’s doctor says she is not well. More than our hopes and prayers are required. He thinks we should write or call all our friends to generate support for her.
The same outreach is necessary to those who oversee the well-being of the freedom she once safeguarded—senators and members of Congress.
We must put our money where our mouth is to give the Lady all the sustenance and buttressing she needs. The M.D. even thought she would get a boost if we march past her windows with signs indicating why we need her to live.
The challenging sandwich of those who have lived raising kids and caring for our parents grows in size and complexity.
All of us are now pressed from the outside by the anxiety and sadness attached to the possible loss of our beloved country, fearing her demise.
Nearly 90,000,000 eligible voters did not vote in the 2024 presidential election. Yet, we can arouse them, prevent further damage, and improve the health of all that Lady Liberty represents.
Adlai E. Stevenson II, governor of Illinois and twice candidate for President (1900 – 1965), once reminded his audience of the need to preserve our republic and take necessary action. Voting, yes, but more than that:
Do you remember that in classical times when Cicero had finished speaking, the people said, ‘How well he spoke’ but when Demosthenes had finished speaking, they said, ‘Let us march.’
The time has come.
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The top painting is a 1925 work by Paul Klee, The Mask with the Little Flag. It is sourced from Wikiart.org/
