The Laughing Wolf

Strom Thurmond

It has been a week for this, hasn’t it. Others will praise and condemn the longest serving Senator for a variety of reasons, but I want to point out a couple of things that I find to be of even greater importance than his longevity and voting record.

Whatever else may be said about him, he was a man of strong courage and integrity. He held strong beliefs and would stick with them no matter what, just as he stood by those he believed in for whatever reason. His courage was demonstrated in many ways, not the least of which was serving, in his 40s, in the military and taking part in the D-Day invasion. Not only did he take part, but he was one of the ones crazy enough and courageous enough to go in by glider.

But what I will hold him up for the most is that he showed that people can, will, and do change for the better. This is a debate, nay, argument I have with some people. The fact is, we all make mistakes. Some are minor, some are major, but what truly matters is not that we made the mistake but how we deal with the mistake. Particularly if it is a mistake of the mind, be it an idea or an entire philosophy.

With those, it is very easy to deny a mistake was made and cling even more tightly to the thing in question. We close our minds, turn off all thought, reason, and soul and will deny the evidence physical, mental, or spiritual. We cling to the belief as if it were a talisman, we continue to not merely dislike a person but hate them. We do this not because of what they are, but because they stand as proof that we were wrong and that can never be admitted, so the hate grows.

Yes, Strom Thurmond was a racist and a bigot for a large part of his life. He did a remarkable feat of filibustering against the civil rights act, to the point of going into the steam room before he started so that he would not have to go to the restroom during the 24 hour plus session.

Yet, later in life he opened his mind at least somewhat and changed his position. He then became the first Southern senator to hire a black aide, and did what he felt was now right to do. He also pursued this new course with the same courage, determination, and integrity that he approached all things.

His “true” commitment to such will be debated by others, as will the overall record of his life and work. This is not an insignificant body and I rather suspect that it will be a hundred years or so before an objective analysis can be made, so I make no such attempt here.

For me, the greatest legacy he leaves behind is that he showed it is possible for people to change, to grow, and to do so for good. Strom Thurmond also showed that having the courage and integrity of ones convictions does not mean clinging to false ideas, but rather facing those ideas, determining their shortcomings, and changing so as to discard that which is false or wrong, and bringing in that which is true and good. This is the hardest thing a Man, male or female, can do and by comparison it is easy to charge someone with a gun in their hands. It is so much harder, and far more scary, to face yourself and to have the courage to charge.

Strom Thurmond had that courage, and the integrity to carry through. It is a challenge not merely to the colleagues left behind, but to all of us as well.

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