Maybe all you need is both feet on the ground (The Lemon Twigs)

At 1,000 pages long, it's taken a while, but I have just finished the David McCullough biography of Harry S. Truman, simply called Truman.

What a bargain it was - costing a dollar from that book shop in Santa Rosa (the origin story is here). It's an extraordinary biography that delivers majestically throughout and yes, I misted up during the last three pages as McCullough recounts events of December 26, 1972 - Truman's final days.

The summing up of Truman in these last pages of the biography really affected me. 

Here are some extracts:

He did require to be loved. He did not expect to be followed blindly. Congressional opposition never struck him as subversive, nor did he regard his critics as traitors. He never whined.

He walked around Washington every morning - it was safe then. He met reporters frequently as a matter of course, and did not blame them for his failures. he did not use the office as a club or a shield, or a hiding place.

(Mary McGrory in the Washington Star)

The contrast to the times we now live in, with a narcissistic spoilt child in the White House couldn't be starker.

The last word should go to David McCullough:

Ambitious by nature, he was never torn by ambition, never tried to appear as something he was not. He stood for common sense, common decency. he spoke the common tongue.

He held to the old guidelines: work hard, do your best, speak the truth, assume no airs, trust in God, have no fear.

Energy and persistence conquer all things (Benjamin Franklin)

I'm into the last 100 pages of the epic that is David McCullough's Truman, which has him entering his final phase as President.

Truman, in his mid-sixties is into his seventh and last year of his Presidency and still full of energy and still with a steely commitment to his job.

He's not weighed down by events (the 'limited war' in Korea and Senator McCarthy's poison tongue), still healthy and fit, and still morally upright.

He's an inspiration and a role model for the rest of us in the same age bracket.

Way up in the sky, little darlin', If you fall I'll pick you up, pick you up (Rickie Lee Jones)

Teachers have secret superpowers

“Republicans approve of the American farmer, but they are willing to help him go broke. They stand four-square for the American home--but not for housing. They are strong for labor--but they are stronger for restricting labor's rights. They favor minimum wage--the smaller the minimum wage the better. They endorse educational opportunity for all--but they won't spend money for teachers or for schools. They think modern medical care and hospitals are fine--for people who can afford them. They consider electrical power a great blessing--but only when the private power companies get their rake-off. They think American standard of living is a fine thing--so long as it doesn't spread to all the people. And they admire of Government of the United States so much that they would like to buy it.”

A wee reminder from Harry S. Truman