I don’t know when it left. Maybe when he died, in 1978. I suspect maybe earlier, in the Sixties. Some readers may not even be familiar with the name, especially if you are younger than 50.

Norman Rockwell was a celebrated American painter and illustrator for over five decades. His works had a broad popular appeal for their reflection of the American culture of his time. He is most famous for his cover illustrations of everyday life created for The Saturday Evening Post magazine. He is also noted for his more than 60-year relationship with the Boy Scouts of America (when they were just boys), during which he produced covers for the organization’s publication Boys’ Life, for calendars and promotional posters.

Maybe his most recognizable piece even today is titled “Freedom From Want.” The composition depicts a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Around the table, a multigenerational family eagerly gathers as the grandmother sets down what must be a 25-pound golden brown turkey while grampa stands behind, ready to carve it. It’s among my favorites, along with “Saying Grace,” which shows an older woman and a young boy pausing, heads bowed to pray before their meal, drawing curious glances from a wide demographic of fellow diners.

The art world of his day found Rockwell sentimental and out of touch. Many of his works continue to be denigrated by modern critics, especially the Post covers, which they say tend toward overly idealistic or romanticized past portrayals of American life. I disagree. I’m a Baby Boomer. I grew up in the Fifties, and lived what he painted.

Back in the day (that sounds so senior citizen-ish, because it is), automobiles were big and sleek, with large tailfins and a flowing design that mimicked the look of Space Race rockets. They had actual chrome bumpers but no seatbelts. They were gas guzzlers, but nobody cared because you could drive up to your neighborhood Texaco pumps and fill up the tank for five bucks, get your oil and tire pressure checked, and even have your windows washed by a friendly station attendant. Seriously.

 Few women actually went to work. They were housewives. Mom wore an apron while cooking and baking. Dad came home and read the newspaper. They both went to school PTA meetings. All together we watched a black and white TV on a screen inside of a piece of furniture called a console. We hurried through dinner and dishes to tune in to I Love Lucy, Gunsmoke and Father Knows Best (can you imagine such a sit-com in today’s anti-patriarchal culture?) I ran around the neighborhood dressed up like a cowboy — hat, boots and all, with cap guns blazing. We used pencils, paper and a 64-pack of crayons in grade school and learned about the practical value of civics, grammar and history. Movie theatres handed out special glasses so we could cringe viewing Creature from the Black Lagoon in 3-D. Ladies wore hats and gloves to church. Folks dressed up to go out to eat and to board an airplane, and if the flight was more than an hour long, were served a hot meal. You could smoke everywhere.

This storybook lifestyle had its share of dark pages, however. We worried about the Atomic Bomb and polio outbreaks and the Cold War. The civil rights injustices in the South were about to go national, and while freedom eventually won, the process was ugly.

Norman Rockwell was an original. No one has ever outdone him in a contemporary expression of everyday life elevated to an iconic level. I admire his efforts to chronicle a now bygone era. Gone forever.

What is the self-reflective and world view of the American identity today? Who is painting that, whatever it is? You’d have to be from outer space not to admit that our country has gradually abandoned traditional moral and ethical values, once celebrated as foundational to our stability as a society. When a culture decides that moral absolutes are too restrictive to personal freedom, then what replaces the behavioral compass in order to prevent getting lost in a dark maze of narcissistic relativism? Is there a way out? Does anyone actually want out?

So then if eventually everything inevitably changes, for better or worse, are there no absolutes, no constants? Perhaps not in the natural world, but I suggest you look into the supernatural: “I am the LORD, I change not,” is a verse from the most reliable source of truth, the Bible, in Malachi 3:6. Lamentations 3:22 declares that “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end.” That’s Old Testament. The New Testament in Hebrews 13:8 says Jesus is the same “yesterday, today, and forever.” 

What a comfort to know that, while everything these days seems to toss us about in a raging sea of uncertainty and fear, we can drop an anchor of hope in an immutable God whose faithfulness is forever. (Heb. 6:16-20)

You can file this post in your
My How Things Have Changed folder.

More to come.

Years ago, I used to see the words GOD BLESS AMERICA on bumper stickers, along with PRAY THE ROSARY and KEEP ON TRUCKIN’. Apparently the fad has gone the way of lava lamps, mood rings and the pet rock along with other oddities of the 70s and 80s.

Interestingly, the phrase was invoked almost as an exclamation point at the end of many of the speeches at the recent Republican Party’s national convention (July 15-18, 2024). Not surprisingly, the sentiment was notably absent at the Democratic National Convention (Aug. 15-22, 2024).

I do occasionally hear people express the phrase, both in and out of churchy environments. With what I have seen develop in this country during the last ten or so years, it makes me wonder, though, why would we expect or even suppose that God would bless such a flagrantly reprobate country? Our seats of government have become dens of corruption, lobbied by self-serving money mongers like the military/industrial giants who promote the artifacts of war as if it were a business for propagating endless conflicts for profit. What happened to my vote? Where are the “Of the people, by the people, for the people” representatives? It’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, but without a happy ending.

Why are we seeking the favor of God on a society that has devolved into a death cult? Abortion is murder, not a women’s right to reproductive care. Apparently some are unaware since we conveniently threw out the Ten Commandments decades ago. Perversion used to be scandalous, hushed away in a closet, but is now pridefully paraded in Drag Queen Story Hours in front of kindergarteners. Don’t expect me to respect your rainbow banner when you mock me and young Christian students for wanting to pray around the school flagpole with Old Glory unfurled. And by the way, there’s only one National Anthem worthy of being sung at any sporting event. Who would not jump up and stand for those who have fallen, who gave the last full measure of patriotism so we can think and speak according to our God given rights?

Does not the Bible and the Constitution say we are all “created equal”? Whatever prompted us to exchange merit for equity? That mentality is not only bizarre but dangerous. When I board that 747 I want the pilot and crew and the air traffic controllers to be the best and do their job based on skill, not their physical characteristics or supposed lack of privilege.

Thomas Jefferson, brilliantly in his Declaration, believed that the purpose of government was to secure our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Today we have a diabolical ruling class that will legislate everything it can to render us perpetually broke, fat, stupid, gullible, entitled, lazy, sick and godless. That makes us easier to control, body and soul. Public education has become an assembly line cranking out lies and hate for family, faith and righteousness. Reading, writing and ‘rithmatic have given way to Rules for Radicals. A popular saying in the 60s during the Hippie anti-Vietnam War era was “Love it or leave it.” If you hate America so much, move to Venezuela, or Cuba. It’s closer. Gorge yourself to death, literally, on socialism there.

Should we expect this brazen idolatry to go on forever? Empires before us have all vanished in the dust, a mere academic paragraph in the annals of history. In his latest book, The End of Everything, military historian Victor Davis Hanson describes a series of events that span the age of antiquity to the conquest of the New World to show how societies descend into barbarism and obliteration. In the stories of Thebes, Carthage, Constantinople, and Tenochtitlan (modern day Mexico City), he depicts war’s drama, violence, and folly. Highlighting the naiveté that plagued the vanquished and the wrath that justified mass slaughter, Hanson delivers a warning to contemporary readers to heed the lessons of obliteration lest we blunder into catastrophe once again. More often than not, a society can be blindly suicidal.

We are watching the values of Western civilization aggressively being chipped away, deliberately. History is being altered without resistance and foundational structures are being torn down, exactly like what ISIS did in Syria. Control the past, control the future. In America, we’ve chiseled God’s name off the record.

Today’s descriptions of manhood and womanhood are beyond blurred; they’re all but erased. I guess so-called gender fluidity makes it easier to do. So much for the male and female of Genesis 2. Ironically, the only thing toxic about men is the attack on godly manhood. The qualities of honor, valor, loyalty, honesty, courage, integrity, charity and selflessness are disdained in favor of effeminate neutrality.      

More questions: How can pre-teens be out on the street at 3 a.m. killing each other without consequences because they can’t be charged as an adult? How will they ever know about the Father in heaven who loves them if they are fatherless at home? In his Book of Manly Men, Stephen Mansfield writes, “. . . the constant intrusion of government into the family structure in our nation has contributed dramatically to confusion about what God intends men to be.” Looking for a model? Look at Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately what I call Casual Christianity has been passive about the slippery slope into immorality. The Catholic Church used to publish movie ratings with grades from A to C, the latter meaning Condemned, too vile to be viewed by its congregations. Have we descended into depravity too far? Have we become like Esau, forfeiting our inheritance and beyond repentance? It took a flood to start over again the last time, God regretting the development of humanity and its blatant disregard for Who is actually in change of the cosmos.

A people can go just so far worshiping hedonism. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,” declares Psalm 33:12. So where does that put us?

Regarding the question posed at the beginning of this post, I rest my case.

“She’s gone.” Two words I didn’t ever want to hear, but did, as the vet withdrew his stethoscope from Emma’s chest, absolutely certain he’d heard her very last heartbeat. That was two years ago today.

We had to let her go, with medical assistance and compassion to end her suffering. She had been deaf for two years. For more than that long she had struggled with pancreatic problems. Her final couple of weeks were just too much to bear, for both of us. She lost her appetite, became dehydrated and struggled to walk and even relieve herself. After almost 16 years of being an intimate part of our family, day and night, she was done. All things must end, right? Except the heartache of loss.

Emma was a better family member than are some actual family members. I grieved at her passing more so than for some relatives I’ve seen depart. I’ve heard it said that a dog or even a cat is such a good example of unconditional love. They give so much and require nothing, except food and water and an occasional pat on the head. In ancient Roman times history says that many dogs were named “Fido.” That would be a derivative of the Latin word “fidus” – meaning faithful. Abraham Lincoln named his favorite dog Fido, considering him a symbol of loyalty. How appropriate.

I can just imagine some readers saying, “How dare you give such emotional attention to a mere dog. Don’t you know that children are being trafficked, PTSD is leading our veterans to take their own lives, and the homeless mentally ill are rotting on our city streets? Where are your priorities?”

First, there is no such thing as a “mere dog.” And yes, I am aware of those situations, otherwise I wouldn’t have mentioned them. That’s actually a short list of disturbing issues to be concerned with in the declining culture of our world today. But none of those people were my faithful companion day after day, through my own good times and bad, with bright eyes, a joyful bark and a waggy tail.

Emma Rose, so named by my wife who couldn’t resist her at a Rescue Dog event, was a wonderful little 9-pound Terrier gift from heaven, and I will always treasure her trusting friendship. She continues to be missed, by all of us who had the blessing of enjoying her time with us.

I do take some comfort in the fact that I’m not the only one who has such a heart. “You care for people and animals alike, O Lord. How precious is your unfailing love, O God!” Psalm 36:6

Amen to that!