In My Lifetime

Have you heard of Kathrine Switzer? No? Neither had I, until I saw a 1967 photo that was making the rounds on Facebook recently. In 1967, Ms. Switzer entered the Boston Marathon as K.V. Switzer, at a time when women were not allowed to participate in that race (or in many other athletic opportunities). As she ran that day, one of the race organizers, Jock Semple, jumped off the media truck and began yelling at her, attempting to physically force her out of the race. Ms Switzer had vowed that she would complete the marathon, saying, "I'm going to finish this race on my hands and knees if I have to, because nobody believes that I can do this." Those running with her provided her a shield of protection throughout the race and she finished the course in 4 hours and 20 minutes.

I thought of Kathrine’s story as I watched the Ashland University women’s basketball team in action last week. While I wasn’t able to get to their last regular season home game, I did catch the re-broadcast on the university television channel (channel 20 on cable). What an amazing team of gifted young women. It’s obvious that they love what they’re doing and that they work very hard at it, for their smiles, skills and determination tell that story. What an opportunity they have to be ambassadors for our community and our university through their sport – but it hasn’t always been that way.

Whether we’re talking about women’s rights and opportunities, about civil rights, or even about Social Security and Medicare, it doesn’t hurt to be reminded from time to time that the world as we know it hasn’t always been like this. As much as it seems that Social Security has been around forever, it was first signed into law in 1935, less than 80 years ago, and its income support in old age is what allows my mother to continue to live independently at age 90 – and it does the same for many in our town as well.

Thirty years later, both Medicare and Medicaid were instituted in 1965 – that’s within my lifetime. We can entertain a great deal of discussion about the costs, benefits, and practices of Medicare and Medicaid, but I don’t want to go back to the time when the poor and the elderly were unable to access medical care.

The landmark civil rights act was approved in 1964, just a year before Medicare and Medicaid. As I watch my young friends of varied race and ethnic backgrounds walk down the street together and sit in the classroom together, I have no interest in turning the clock back to the years of separate and (possibly) equal that was a part of America’s cultural landscape well into the 60’s – within my lifetime.

And it wasn’t until 1972, about the time that I was applying to college, that women were officially allowed to run in the Boston Marathon. Now I will make it perfectly clear that I have no intention of running in the Boston Marathon (or any other marathon), but I am grateful that if I wanted to punish my body that way, I could!

What’s the connection to today? I’ve had a chance to watch a portion of the PBS series, “Makers: Women Who Make America,” and its stories take me back to a time in the not-so-distant past when gender, skin color, age, poverty and other “categories” defined people in destructive ways.

That series is a powerful reminder for me that when we tell the story of AU basketball star Kari Daugherty and her incredible teammates, we also have to tell the story of Kathrine Switzer. When we tell the story of Senator Marco Rubio and his bright future, we also must tell the story of Army Private Félix Longoria. And when we tell the stories of social security recipients in our families and in our community, we must also tell the story of Ohio-born Jacob Coxey and his march on Washington. The stories of the past are ours to hear and to tell; their courage is ours to remember and to repeat.