A group of Mankato residents who have celebrated a combined 427 birthdays figures their level of accumulated experience might carry with it a bit of wisdom.
“We’ve got a lot of life behind us,” said Paul Goodrich, 90.
In fact, four of the five have been around for more than a third of the USA’s existence.
So when asked, they agreed to share a few wishes for the nation’s 250th, along with some requests of their fellow citizens.
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Bruno Gad, 86, hopes people avoid getting discouraged by the current divisiveness in America. Good times follow bad. That’s been the course of events in the nation’s past, and it will be again if people don’t give up.
“We have to begin looking at what the ‘60s were like. To me, the ‘60s were a far more violent time than what we’re going through now.”
He runs down the list of assassinations and the civil unrest that, in major cities, felt like small wars to the people who lived it.
“We got through the ‘60s, and we’ll get through this,” Gad said.
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Goodrich, 90, asks people to do their civic duty by staying informed and voting intelligently. What’s plaguing America — he isn’t sure how to characterize it — isn’t something that can be fought by the Armed Forces.
“Whatever you want to call it, it’s invading our leadership. And the military can’t hardly fight that in this country. It’s going to have to depend on how we vote. We’re going to have to wipe the hate from our eyes and hearts and look at what’s happening every day. The fraud and corruption is coming every day.”
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Older Americans need to care about the world they leave behind for the generations that follow, which is why Willow Brook residents are so aggressive about waste reduction, including recycling and food composting.
Asked if that’s a form of patriotism, Gad has a quick answer: “Hell yes!”
“We want to protect our land, our country,” added Linda Larson, 79.
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It’s important to never forget — past sacrifices or current good fortune.
Walt and Lois Cheever, 88 and 84 years old, respectively, believe in honoring those who served, like their fathers in World War II and their son in Afghanistan.
“We don’t miss a Memorial Day service,” Lois said. “Faith and patriotism is very important to us.”
Gad believes people should remember the blessings of the present — the gift that American citizenship represents.
“We are fortunate people,” he said.
“We don’t know how lucky we are. Nobody is going to find another place like this.”