Apparently hearing about Pearl Harbor is not quite the same as living through it. Love for country was as imbedded in her character as religion, which is to say it ran in her veins.  I am old enough to have a gut response to Kennedy's words, although I was in kindergarten when he spoke them.

"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."

 

I vote, which has atrophied from a sacred honor in my mother's day to an errand in mine. Mom was born on the fourth anniversary of women getting the vote and she would no more have skipped the chance than forgotten to wear stockings to church. But sacrifice is too wide a word for my half hearted stabs at political commitment. Signing a Facebook petition, reading a Huffington article online, sewing flag dresses for the twins in July are the extent of my enthusiasm. I doubt I have ever actually endured inconvenience on behalf of America.

 

The climate of loyalty to country has repercussions for marriage. 

 

A generation that ran toward rationing metal, and winding bandages for the Red Cross was not distracted by questions about personal fulfillment.  They may not have excelled at self actualization or expressing their feelings. But my parents had a stability that I still hunger for.

 

 

Ask not what your marriage can do for you, but what you can do for your marriage.