I was 17 in 1976, as we prepared for the 200th anniversary of our country. As a member of the Girls Glee Club at Oak Ridge High School, our outfits consisted of long blue skirts, red, white and blue vests and long sleeved white blouses. Our choral director, the late and great Mrs. Kay Hamrick, taught us patriotic songs. The one I loved most was titled: “Two hundred years and just a baby.” We had so much hope for our great country. We were thrilled to be Americans and sang with gusto those songs that proclaimed our accomplishments as a country. No, it wasn’t a perfect country, but one that had her greatest years ahead.
Everyone’s spirits seemed high and even the fire hydrants were painted red, white, and blue. America was still young, but held so much promise. The sky could not limit all that she could strive for and become. There was nothing that she couldn’t do to make the future brighter for every citizen. When a mother holds her baby in her arms, she has so much hope and is happy.
That baby represents a life of promise and so much potential. That baby is her future and more than anything, she wants her baby to be a gift for the world. She wants her baby’s life to mean something.
I graduated from Berea College in 1981 and was ready to chart my future. I later got a master’s degree (MFA in playwriting) from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, and I was still full of hope and optimism. I was able to get my degree from UT because of a fellowship. It was a hand up, not a handout…