My Two Cents

I started school in the fall of 1961. Every day, I was given two cents for milk money. As I stood at the end of the driveway waiting for the bus to come, I would dig the pennies out of my change purse. I played with them, and I studied them. Often, they were brand new pennies. I noticed that the year 1961 was also 1961 when the penny was upside down.

I held more than just copper in my little hand. So much was on the heads of those Lincoln pennies.

My mother admired Abraham Lincoln to the point, I felt like he was family. At six years old all I knew was, he had been born in Kentucky and the state of Illinois also claimed him as one their own. Those facts were important to my mother. Decades later I would discover our family history had interwoven with Lincoln to stand on the right side of history. Our future too, had a funny little story that connected our family in a lighter sense.

“In God We Trust” was something else my mother ingrained upon my mind and heart. Miles away and years later as an adult, a like-minded friend told me we were fortunate to have that trust come easily to us. Many people struggle. While my perception of God would greatly change over my lifetime, trust in the larger good has seen me through harrowing experiences.

Liberty was the name of my elementary school. The lofty idea of liberty was lost on me. Years later, it would be dear to me. We miss most when we lose what we take for granted. How dear indeed, is sovereignty to me.

What I saw on the new pennies were connection and alignment; God, Lincoln, Liberty, me. I felt a specialness starting school in the year 1961 with its ability to be the same in either direction. There was a specialness the other years lacked.

It gave me a perspective that has followed me all these years. Truth can be upside down and hidden in plain sight. There are times and ideas that require being stood on their heads. The world had placed in my little hand, symbols providing a bit of a peek into philosophical concepts.

Anyway, that’s my two cents.

(The End.)

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