Trig Lesson

I was lucky enough to attend the Susan B. Anthony List's Celebration of Life Breakfast last month to hear Sarah Palin speak. I was hoping to have a picture, alas, my camera battery was dead. But you can see the speech in its entirety here on C-SPAN's website. (You can observe that she gave a shout-out to Team Sarah -- I proudly stood up and maybe she glanced my way.)

You know, that was the speech that the mainstream media's only point worth noting seemed to be how Palin made a reference to "grizzly moms." And that's a shame, since she had some great, woman-empowering statements.

                                                

She quoted Ronald Reagan, who -- when challenged by some stuffy Brits as to why he thought Margaret Thatcher, a woman, would make a magnificent Prime Minister -- responded "Well, you had a Queen named Victoria who did pretty well."

Palin felt that Thatcher never set out to be a "woman prime minister" just a prime minister. She quoted Dame Thatcher, "In politics, you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman."

Sarah mentioned that her favorite tea party sign was one that said "My Kid is not Your ATM" and her favorite campaign button was a little pink elephant with "It's a Girl!" She then predicted a stampede of pink elephants this November. She declared how proud she was of all the moms who are rising up to say "Now that's enough!"

She spoke of a side of feminism that liberals seem to have forgotten: "It's influenced by the pioneering spirit of our foremothers, who went in wagon trains across the wilderness, and they settled in homesteads. And these were tough, independent pioneering mothers, whose work was as valuable as any man's on the frontier. ... They went where no woman had gone before."

But I have to say that the story that I really took to heart was about her son, Trig.

"Trig has been the best thing that has ever happened to me and to the Palin family... he's 2 years old now -- he'll wake up and he pulls himself up to the top of the crib there. He looks around and he rubs his sleepy little eyes, and even though the day's going to be challenging, he starts applauding. First thing in the morning, he looks around clapping like, 'Woohoo! What are you going to do with me now?' And I -- oh man, shouldn't we all? That's what we're learning from our boy."

And since I heard that story, I may not wake up applauding, but I have been rising to greet the day with more gratitude, more appreciation for all the ways I have been blessed in this life and all the opportunities that lie before me.

Thanks, Trig!

Comments

[Megan]

My son just started clapping yesterday. And he doesn't know how to stop!