Lindbergh

This week I have finished 3 books I've been reading this month. One of those books was the autobiography of Charles A. Lindbergh, the famous aviator and icon of the 20th century who became the first man to fly an airplane from New York to Paris. (We call that a Transatlantic flight. *Anson smiles intelligently*) To think that Lindbergh did this during an era when most people didn't even see aviation as having the potential for an incredible feat like this is astounding to me!

There are 3 reasons I wanted to read this book. One, I became fascinated with Lindbergh while our history class studied him in the 7th grade and I had to do a report on him. Two, Heather and I visited his grave on our first trip to Maui a couple years ago. We actually stumbled upon it by accident at a small church on the road to Hana. Three, there has always been something in me that kind of wished I was alive during the roaring twenties, depression-strained thirties, and patriotic fourties. It's weird.

There were many fascinating things about this book, Autobiography of Values. It struck me how this guy was such a fascinating man involved in everything from aviation, cartography, medicine, WWII bombers, politics, the environment, rocket science, and even mysticism! I probably wouldn't recommend it unless you really enjoy history like I do.

One thing I didn't know about Lindbergh prior to reading this book was that before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor he was quite the anti-war activist. Dead-set against America becoming involved in the turmoil going on between Germany, Russia and England he constantly gave speeches and met with politicians regarding his stance. I close this blog with an excerpt from one of his speeches that I found to be quite relevant for the debates echoing throughout homes, classrooms & offices today. I want to encourage you to comment this blog with your opinions regarding this statement:

"Democracy is not a quality that can be imposed by war. The attempt to do so has always met with failure. Democracy can spring only from within a nation itself, only from the hearts and minds of the people. It can be spread abroad by example, but never by force. The strength of a democracy lies in the satisfaction of its own people. Its influence lies in making others wish to copy it. If we cannot make other nations wish to copy our American system of government, we cannot force them to copy it by going to war..." (Autobiography of Values, p.194)