𝗪𝗲'𝘃𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗘𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵. 𝗧𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗳 𝗡𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗵𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲 – 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝗜'𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝗜 𝗳𝗲𝗹𝘁 𝘀𝗼 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗶𝗺.
I never met him (one
of those people I always wished I could share a conversation with), but from afar, I thought he was brilliant. And from a humanitarian way, he always reminded me of my gramps, Julius Gerber, who would have been somewhere around Mr. Lear’s age (101) if he was alive now.
As I consider this question, particularly at a time when I have been on such an introspective journey to ‘𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗠𝗬 𝗪𝗛𝗬’, I must go back to being a young girl in Brooklyn, New York in the early 70s – the same time Norman Lear’s masterpiece came out, All in the Family. It was such a formative time in my life – a little girl running around the streets with ruffles, playing with my friends that came in all shapes & sizes & skin colors, religions and family backgrounds – I myself coming from a half Jewish & half Catholic family, whisked off to live on Crete where my Dad was stationed for the first year of my life, and then back to Brooklyn. We didn’t have much as far as material things back then. But we had a lot of love to give and to share.
𝗪𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗲 & 𝗘𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗕𝘂𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱 & 𝗚𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗮 𝗦𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗰 𝗮𝗿𝗴𝘂𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 – 𝟯 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗲𝘅𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗿𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 (𝗘𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗴𝗲𝗺). The writing was brilliant and presented humanity through the perspectives of the working-class Bunker family in Queens, and even a couple of neighbors who eventually ‘moved on up to the (Upper) East Side’, all with varying opinions and lenses out of which they saw the world, but, able to communicate and care about one another.
I remember Normal Lear saying, ‘if it encouraged people to talk’, that was his purpose. And he did. Norman Lear brought us many perspectives through his character development and his work – from All in the Family to The Jeffersons to Maude to Sanford & Son to The Facts of Life and One Day at a Time, to countless others…. and certainly, GenXers
like me, & Boomers can reflect on all of these and the many others in a heartfelt way.
Normal Lear was a risk taker always willing to step out on the cliff’s edge in favor of creating a mutual understanding across humans. I guess I do know why I connect with that. But I’ll leave this post as a tribute to him.
Thank you Mr. Lear for your grace & humanity, & for giving us an opportunity to consider so many different lenses on the world.
And PS: because of you I can do a MEAN Edith Bunker rendition of Those Were the Days
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