(Please allow me a point of personal privilege in this Blog.)
Tomorrow is my father’s birthday. He would have been 102 years old. He died when he was only 63.
My father was not much for attending church, but looking back now I think he embodied the best of what it meant to be a Christian. Talk to him about religion and he would look for nearest door, but talk to him about economic justice and he would settle in for the long haul.
That is why I believe he lived as a Christian long before he ever went to church. Economic justice was his life’s work as a labor representative for the United Paper Makers and Paper Workers of America, a union of the AFL/CIO. Before that he was a union organizer.
Neither was easy work. He was called a communist many times, and was once escorted out of a small North Carolina town by the local sheriff.
But unions have always lived with suspicion and an appalling lack of appreciation for what they have done for American workers, things like the forty hour work week, overtime pay, paid vacations, healthcare benefits, pensions, and most important, a livable wage for an honest day’s labor.
None of these were graciously offered by corporations to their workers. They were instead won through contract negotiations led by people like my father.
He was known for his ability to negotiate good contracts for his union members without making outrageous demands. He knew what was fair and what companies could well afford to pay. He wanted a fair shake for everyone. That’s what made him so good at his job.
When my father died my mother received gracious notes from union and company leaders alike. They knew he was a man of integrity, grit, hard work, and a desire to make labor and industry work together for everyone’s benefit.
We don’t see that attitude much anymore. It’s all about getting for myself, whether it is a company president or a line worker. Unions taught loyalty to the common good. Today the common good seldom gets a nod.
What is interesting to me is that I know I believe in economic, racial, and social justice in all its forms because of my father rather than my church. He taught me what it actually meant to believe in God without ever pulling out the Bible to tell me what it says.
Actually he may not have ever known what it said, but he knew what it wanted people to do, to care about others, to do whatever you can to give people a chance in life, to at least help them put food on the table and clothes on their back.
In other words, he knew believing in God meant loving your neighbor as you love yourself, though he never said it that way.
My father was also an eleven year Army veteran. He loved the fourth of July, the flags, the fireworks, the whole shebang. It was a real American holiday for him because he was a patriotic American the way people used to be.
You didn’t have to guess where my father stood when it came to issues. He was a union man and everything revolved around what that meant.
People who know me know I inherited that much from him. I’m not bashful about saying what I believe about issues. I am also a union man, not just because I am the son of one, but because I believe at their best unions have always fought for economic justice for ordinary Americans.
Too bad too many workers today don’t know that, or don’t care. But that will never change the fact that workers in this country are better off today than they ever would be simply because their union representatives have a seat at the table when their fate is being decided.
So happy birthday, Pop, and a happy fourth of July. You made life a lot better for a lot of people.
I don’t think a person can do much better than that.
linnposts.com 
Jan, it is great to read about your family members. Please do more of it. It took me back to an easier time when families seemed so much closer than they are today. I have so many fond memories of you guys at Holliday Lake, and like my father, your dad seemed so strong and sure of himself–making all of us strong and sure of ourselves. Thanks for sharing. There is so much good about our town, our state, our country–love reading about the good stuff. Does that make me polyanna?
No, Kay, it doesn’t make you “pollyanna.” It makes you someone who likes hearing about the glass half full. Nothing wrong with that.
Your father would have been darn proud of who you have become. Blessings to you.
Many thanks, Dirk. As yours was, too.
The apple did no fall far from the tree. Your father cared about others and did so much for so many. You are the same. He would be very proud. RIP Pop!
Thanks for saying that, Bill. I wasn’t looking for those words, but I must admit hearing them feels good.
Jan, A friend of mine recently showed me a letter she received from her dad, a prominent Mennonite professor. An observation he made about the Four Gospels states, “apart from John’s gospel, Jesus speaks less of “believing” than of following, telling the truth, peacemaking, repenting, caring, forgiving, sharing, giving, doing, being, loving…Christians of later centuries have pressed believing into structures of theological certitude.”
I’m sorry I never met your dad but he must have been a fine individual for he taught you well.
Wilbur, your friend’s dad was a very wise man.
By the way, enjoying your latest book. Reading it through a second time.
Your father sounds like a fine man, Jan. It is easy to understand how your values and advocacy for the underdog came about.
Kay, I guess (or hope) the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
A great read Jan. I can also be proud and grateful that I grew up in a union household – I picked up most of my life lessons the same way, and for that, I am grateful
Thanks, Tony. It’s good to know there are other union families out there. Tell your dad he is a good man.
Your pop lives on in YOU and in me ( b/c of your reluctance to be bashful about the Realm of God)
Thanks Wilbur for your eloquent words about your Dad. They reminded me so much of my Dad, who wasn’t much for believing, but he sure was big on living a life that reflected what I still to this day consider to be a real Christian as exemplified by the qualities you list for your Dad. And Thanks Jan, for the thoughts of your Dad. I think I would have enjoyed knowing him.
Ooops, Sorry Wilbur, you wrote about a friend’s Dad. But the idea is still the same. My mistake.
This story took me back as well, Jan. I worked my way through college in the late 60s in industrial/factory jobs wherein the wages and benefits I received were won by unions. I was able to pay for 8 of 9 semesters of schooling because of the above average blue collar wages of those days. Later, in the 80s, when companies began freezing and shrinking wages and benefits, I became a union representative or labor liaison at three separate work places to do what your father did; fight for proportional fairness! I lived and worked through the years of transformation to de-unionize, two-tier and off-shore American labor. It was an awful experience! It IS an awful legacy for today’s labor force. Hopefully labor is asserting itself again to initiate a rebalance but in the global economy under trade agreements like the TPP the road to respectable middle class wages like your father fought for are on a very distant horizon. If everyone would support such fairness all would benefit through the enhanced dignity all work brings to all levels of society, and, it would grow the demand side of the commerce equation. Thank you for sharing your father with us here. A good man!
Bob, your testimony adds much credibility to what unions have meant to this country, and can mean again. Thanks.
Well said, Jan. He taught me so much example. Dinnertime conversation at the Linn table was a real treat! (Pass the Tums, please!)
Thanks, Mary. As I said, you knew where he stood on the issues, and taught the rest of us to have the courage of our convictions no matter what.