Damariscotta is a small town.
On Main Street, shops, cafés, a book store.
Who knew the Frances Perkins Center was there?
A tribute to her life, legacy?
That we would stumble upon it?
On our last morning?
Read about her remarkable family history?
Commitment to workers’ rights?
To a middle class supported by government?
To the creation of social security?
Principles in the New Deal?
Learn she was Secretary of Labor under FDR?
The first woman in the US cabinet?
Frances Perkins cared about people.
About democracy.
About justice.
I know there are many who still do.
But, what would she think if she were witness to insurrection?
To leaders who eschew our government?
Disseminate disinformation?
Lie and steal?
Want to dismantle social security?
Believe everyone, including children, should wield guns?
Take away women’s rights?
Impossible to know her sentiments.
Almost a hundred years after her achievements.
On behalf of working Americans.
I only know my own.
Respect, pride in those who follow her lead.
Champion her ideals.
But, how to reckon with others who grab power?
To fulfill personal ideologies?
What do we tell our children?
Hard not to get stuck in shame.
But instead of going down that trail,
I’ll invoke Frances Perkins’s name.
Lynn Benjamin
August 18, 2023
