Rene’ Munger, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and Hermantown School Board (1998) @ Hermantown Middle School
If you look really, really close, you’ll see my wife holding her copy of Madame Secretary’s bestselling book, It Takes a Village. The occasion? Students from the Hermantown Elementary School were invited to meet then First Lady Clinton, along with their teachers, a few local politicos, and select volunteers who helped set up the event (including me: I was a lowly attorney at the time and my price of admittance was some labor and sweat the night before the event) to talk about the challenges facing educators and children. Senator Wellstone and Congressman Oberstar were also there, sitting on chairs next to Hillary, the three adults surrounded by a sea of little kids, including my son, Christian. Chris even got a hug from the First Lady: At the end of the event, as she was walking out of the middle school gym, Hillary spotted Chris’s big brown eyes and sweet dimpled smile. She couldn’t resist and somewhere in the family archives, their encounter is preserved for posterity. But that bit of family trivia isn’t the point of this little blog.
The day Hillary came to Hermantown, my wife was a long-serving member of the Hermantown School Board. Hillary was (and is) a role model for Rene’ and many other women around the world. So when my wife heard that the First Lady was coming to visit, well, you can guess the level of excitement in our home. Unlike other political events of recent memory involving our area featuring national figures, Hillary’s visit was not one based upon ideology or party labels: She was visiting Hermantown as an ambassador for children, promoting parental and community involvement as a means to nurture kids. Her message was that teachers, even the best and most dedicated, cannot lead our children to adulthood on their own: It truly takes our communities, our villages, acting in concert to rear our young.
When the above photograph was taken, my wife was working on her Master’s in Art Therapy at UWS. She was already committed to focusing her life’s work on kids. She was further inspired by Hillary’s example and for the past 13 years, Rene’ has worked as a mental health therapist in some of NE Minnesota’s most challenging schools. But, just a few weeks ago, my wife suffered a horrific fall on ice, breaking both bones in her lower left leg and dislocating them to the point she required surgery and the placement of two metal plates and twelve screws to help her bones mend. Rene’ will eventually be healed enough to return to her work. It’s not an issue of if but a matter of when.
Hillary, of course, went on to be elected Senator from New York. Then, in 2008, she ran a classy and tough-as-nails presidential campaign against a young upstart named Barack Obama. She didn’t win but, given her popularity and appeal across political lines, her powerful intellect, and her knowledge of world affairs, President Obama’s selection of her as his first Secretary of State was a prudent political statement. Now Hillary too, her time as Madame Secretary coming to a close, has fallen ill. The blood clot in her head is an unfortunate turn of events for a great woman, a female role model likely poised on the edge of another presidential run in 2016. Even though the situation may seem serious, I believe that Hillary will also heal and return to her life of public service.
Two great women. Down, but not out.
Pray for them both if you are so inclined.
Peace.
Mark
