This Just In — This weekend, we mark our 250th birthday as a nation. It seems like a big number, but honestly, it is (if we’re lucky) adolescence. There are many sovereign nations that are much older than America, but our national character is unique. Our struggles and successes cannot easily be compared to Great Britain, from whence we broke free.
Fifty years ago, I had just graduated from high school. My parents were divorcing, I had no path to college — I hadn’t applied anywhere. That aspect of my senior year just slipped off the table as family dramas unfolded. I had no idea what was coming next … where I would live, work or otherwise carry on. I was 17 – an adolescent.
When America’s Bicentennial arrived, I was gleefully American. I was free. I had been experiencing a good bit of adolescent freedom that Spring with the acquisition of my first car. I had enough money in the bank to cover my insurance and gas (both were pretty cheap at the time). Lack of plan for my future? No problem. I’ll figure it out … somehow. First I had to help with some family matters, then I’d fall off the next bridge upon arrival.
As my parents’ marital relationship ended on the rocky shoals of divorce court, I watched the tall ships come into New York harbor. I chose to identify with the glory of the ancient sailing vessels. Optimism kept hold of me in a very difficult time in my young life. Thankfully, it didn’t let go.
Later that summer, I found myself employed at Travelers Insurance Company, thanks to my big sister taking me by the hand and delivering me to the Personnel Department. “No skills, no history. Please give this girl a job.” Not yet 18, I now was an insurance clerk.
Those were the days. Travelers was well known as the insurance industry’s training ground. The pay ($105/week) was terrible, but the training was not. In six months I was creating group pension booklets and drafting tax disclosure forms for large groups.
In early 1977 I met and fell in love with Mr. Bolduc, a Senior Underwriter in the Group Department, one floor below mine. A year later, we married. A year after that, we were in North Carolina and never looked back.
I was reminded of my whirlwind experience in learning about Justice Jackson’s opinion in the landmark Birthright Citizenship case this week. She described Reconstruction the 14th Amendment as part of America’s “Second Founding.” Her concurring opinion in the case was an outstanding piece of writing, confirming for all of us that President Biden made a brilliant choice in nominating this jurist to the Court. She’s a scholar and a hard working historian with an enviable voice as a writer.
My experiences as a teenager were those that coexisted with some protective factors. I was healthy, privileged and loved by my family. These are important anchors in experiencing the kind of freedom that allows mistakes and life lessons. I recognized in real time that these things were true — another blessing.
I may still be foolish, though no longer young, but I believe that America will be vastly stronger in the coming years because of what we’re going through now … the repercussions of a foolish mistake — that of tolerating the abject corruption of the feckless GOP. A corrupt president is one thing, but the members of his party in Congress who are refusing to stop his lawlessness, they are also violating their oaths and lining their pockets.
I’m of the hope that we will be experiencing our third founding … the one led by the people and for the people, with a view toward protecting generations of Americans with “the right to have rights.”
We can strip off all that gaudy gold nonsense in the White House and restore the East Wing to its previous state. The reflecting pool? Please. The Army Corps of Engineers works for us. We’ll figure it out.
Happy Independence Day.
Jean Bolduc is a freelance writer and is the author of “African Americans of Durham & Orange Counties: An Oral History” (History Press, 2016) and has served on Orange County’s Human Relations Commission, The Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina, the Orange County Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, and the Orange County Schools’ Equity Task Force. She was a featured columnist and reporter for the Chapel Hill Herald and the News & Observer.
Readers can reach Jean via email – jean@penandinc.com and via Twitter @JeanBolduc
Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
