Livin' the Dream

I did it! I was very nervous when I gave my first tour of the Lincoln Home on Sunday, but as I gave more tours throughout the day, I relaxed and the tour started to feel more comfortable to me. Six tours later my feet were tired, but I was happy. Except for when the bolt of lightning hit somewhere in the neighborhood. As you know, I have a deathly fear of lightning, so when my group was in the last room of the house and a crash of thunder shook the windows, I was a little flustered. The visitors were nervous too, so we waited on the back porch of the house until we felt like we could venture out into the yard without getting zapped. Sunday was a very rainy day, but I enjoyed my first official day as a ranger at the Lincoln Home.

Each tour lasts about 25 minutes, and though each ranger develops their own tour, we have a themed outline to follow. The theme of the tour is "The American Dream." We talk about how Abraham Lincoln went from living in a one-room log cabin (which was about the size of the kitchen in the Lincoln Home) to being President of the United States. We also emphasize that he believed all people--regardless of race or gender--should have a chance to be successful in life if they were willing to work hard enough. Originally when I was contemplating this theme, I was thinking that maybe our world is so messed up these days that the American Dream is kind of getting reversed--as in the case of the Connecticut firemen who were denied promotions that they had earned because their city was worried about getting sued by minority groups for not promoting a more racially diverse group of men. But then as I thought about things for a while, I realized that even though there are some unfortunate exceptions, the idea of the "American Dream" is still alive and well--especially when we consider all of the opportunities available to people today in comparison to the rampant discrimination of pre-Civil War America. It is indeed true that Abraham Lincoln not only lived the American Dream himself, but also made it possible for others--including all of us today--to live it too. As I walked past the Lincoln Home on this crisp spring morning, I realized that I am truly livin' the dream--I have my dream job!

Unfortunately the Small Town Mayor Dream did not come true for our back yard/across-the-street neighbor who ran for mayor of Athens. The results just came in this evening, and the winner got 225 votes; the runner-up got 212 votes; and our neighbor got 6 votes.