79-03-B7
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Long Walk[edit]
Transcript[edit]I hope you're in the mood to feel good about things because with all that's wrong in our land, one young man has found a lot that's right. I'll be right back. I'm indebted to a columnist in a movie trade paper, The Hollywood Reporter, for today's commentary. In it, George Christie wrote of an amazing book, A Walk Across America, and the young man who did the walking and the writing of the book. In October 1973, 22-year-old Peter Jenkins left his home in Connecticut and started a backpacking trip across America. Now this was no hike to get from one ocean to the other to see how quickly it could be done. The hike ended five years later in Oregon when he waded out waist deep into the Pacific Ocean. When Peter left Connecticut he didn't think he'd discover America. He thought he knew America and he didn't like it. He was ashamed of the American flag and he didn't believe in God. Peter Jenkins was one of the youthful rebels from the Woodstock era, convinced that whites in the South hated blacks and blacks were all barefoot. He was sure he'd confirm this as he headed south. He arrived in Murphy, North Carolina flat broke on a Friday night. There was no point in looking for work on a Friday night, so he joined a group of black youths were playing basketball. When the game broke up some of them invited him to their home for dinner. He was afraid, but he went. He shared cornbread and fried chicken and spread his bed roll in their yard. Continuing on, he decided Mobile, Alabama was the most beautiful city he'd ever seen. Then he discovered the pleasure of a Louisiana shrimp boil, where he waded with his host into the bayou for shrimp and help with the cooking pots. In Texas, he saw the children of oil millionaires and of workers happily going to school together and no way to tell him apart. Zigzagging across the country, moving north of spring came, he herded wrestled and dehorned cattle. Somewhere in the five years of hiking, this young rebel who had vowed marriage was not for him, that he would find and leave girls as it suited him, met and married Barbara. It's all in the book. Marriage wasn't the only thing he changed his mind about. He describes his walk as a pilgrimage in search of himself, but he found America and God. He writes, "Finally I've come around to enjoying being an American. I appreciate being able to go to the grocery store, to buy what I want, fish and hunt. I want to become involved with the operation of our schools and government. We often overlook the fact that everyone has an opportunity to have his own home to create his own world here." Unquote. Last Christmas, he and Barbara sent out Christmas cards, inviting everyone they'd met on the trek to join them for the last mile in Oregon. More than 150 came. Ranchers from Idaho, oilmen from Texas, the black family from North Carolina, his and Barbara's families, they waded out waist deep in the ocean, laughing, crying and embracing. In his book, A Walk Across America, he sums it up: "There is great love and wonder and hope here and you're free to pursue your dreams." This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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