Say a Prayer

This weekend, we are celebrating our country’s 250th birthday. What are your plans for celebrating? Fireworks? Picnic or Barbecue? Family camping trip?

We plan to stay home this year and watch the fireworks on TV where the largest ever fireworks show will be broadcast from Washington DC.

In the past couple of years, we’ve tried to include reading out loud one of the important documents declaring our intention to become a nation apart from England. One historian recommended reading President Calvin Coolidge’s Fourth of July speech given on the 150th Anniversary of our American Independence.

John Calvin Coolidge

No other theory is adequate to explain or comprehend the Declaration of Independence. It is the product of the spiritual insight of the people. Calvin Coolidge, July 4, 1926.

John Calvin Coolidge was the thirtieth president of the United States. He was known as “cool Cal.” I knew very little about this president except he said few words and didn’t smile much. But I found a few facts that are interesting:

He was famous for his extreme reticence

He was vice president and became president after President Harding died in office. His father was a justice of the peace and swore him in

He was the first president to join a church while in office (Congregational)

He was fascinated by technology–his inauguration was the first to be broadcast on the radio

Was an animal lover and had a variety of them at the White House, including a pigmy hippopotamus

Born on the 4th of July (1872)

Was president during the “Roaring Twenties”

Deeply shaped by a professor at Amherst College whose teachings on a personal God and moral philosophy profoundly influenced Coolidge’s worldview.

His mother and only sister died when he was a teenager. In 1924, his youngest son, Calvin Jr., died from an infected blister at age 16 while the family was in the White House. Coolidge later said he lost much of his drive for the presidency after that

He spoke against racial prejudices and spoke out against the Klan

He was frugal and personally reviewed Government expenses

Named after the Protestant Reformer, John Calvin

I wonder if Coolidge was influenced by the death of his mother and only sister as a teenager and why he appeared so taciturn. He’d had much loss.

Often, we might see someone who appears unsmiling or looks grumpy. Yet, we don’t know what’s going on in their life. Have they like President Coolidge, experienced the tremendous loss of a mother and sister. And then, the loss of their child?

Just this week, I received an inquiry about our GriefShare program. In her email, she said: “Sometimes I’m great and feel like I’m over it, then out of nowhere comes deep sadness.”

As we celebrate the wondrous anniversary of our country, let’s remember the tremendous sacrifice so many have given. And perhaps give some slack to someone who seems to be unhappy. We don’t know what they’re going through. Instead of–quite honestly I often do–criticizing their grumpiness and sour expression, say a prayer for them instead.

Enjoy our country’s birthday celebration tomorrow–and even the year 2026. Let’s celebrate the greatest country ever!

Happy Birthday, America!