What does America mean to you?
These days, unfortunately, that could be a loaded question.
But as this country prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary, Kane County Treasurer Chris Lauzen wants it to be a positive one. And so, he recently launched Love Letters to America, a community storytelling project celebrating America’s 250th with “voices from Kane County.”
For generations people have built their lives in this area – starting businesses, raising children, serving in uniform, teaching in schools and caring for their neighbors, he said, adding that, “Love Letters to America is an invitation” to reflect on what the U.S.A. means to you in a “letter about your American experience and the places we call home.”
The idea behind it, says the longtime GOP leader, who has also served as a state senator and Kane County Board chair, “is personal, not political.”
Count me as a fan of this idea for a few reasons – most importantly, our country is at a critical juncture in its relatively young existence. And with a nation more divided than it’s ever been in recent generations, we need to look for ways to reflect rather than rant. This project could put a much-needed pause on the vitriol surrounding the issues that divide us, creating space to be reminded of what still connects us.
And the idea is picking up steam.
When Aurora’s progressive Mayor John Laesch heard about Lauzen’s project, he threw his full support behind it and plans to submit his own letter.
“America is a divided nation right now and, as elected leaders, we need to find ways to build more unity,” he told me. “As we approach America’s 250th birthday, this bipartisan effort to reflect on the positive aspects of America is yet another opportunity for Aurora to lead the way and set an example for other elected officials.”
Others across the political spectrum are also jumping on board, including former WGN weatherman and Aurora native Tom Skilling, who is already forming his love note to “an amazing country,” as is Aurora educator Arlene Hawks, who will be co-writing her thank-you to America with husband Dick because “first of all, who doesn’t love a love letter?”
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With so much negativity in the air, insisted Hawks, it’s “comforting” to remember there is also “all the love that surrounds us each day.”
And who couldn’t benefit from getting “perspectives from different folks” about “what they have experienced as they walk this Earth,” she added.
“As an immigrant from Hungary, my family chose the U.S. over the values of Communism,” said author and former Geneva resident John Kador, who now lives in Pennsylvania but is volunteering to be one of the editors for the project.
“Specifically, my father and mother wanted their children to have choices, to be able to vote in meaningful elections, to benefit from the rule of law and to worship as we pleased,” he told me when I asked why he got involved. “Being free to choose is the greatest gift this country delivers to all that have the privilege of being welcomed as Americans.”
According to Lauzen, the seed for this idea was planted about a year ago after hearing the “intensity” of a female Marine’s pride for the country she’d served for 20 years. But the “ultimate impetus,” he told me, involve the feelings summarized in his own letter (to editors) submitted in January. Using words from Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugural address, he called upon “our better angels” to choose compassion and unity over fear and hatred.
“What has this country made possible in your life … what gives you pride in our nation and our community,” Lauzen asks. “These are the kinds of reflection that often don’t get written down, and this is a chance to do that.”
Those with any connections to Kane County can submit letters of up to 600 words by June 1 to www.lauzen.com/love-letters-to-america. Those selected – reflecting a wide range of experiences and voices, Lauzen promised – will be published online July 4, with a print version to be released later.
While it might be tempting to criticize this project as too idealistic or – heaven help us – too detached from our political reality, that skepticism says more about how accustomed we’ve become to division than it does about the value of trying something that can help bring us a little bit closer.
Call it overly optimistic if you want. I prefer to call it a good start.