Why I Miss Bill Clinton (and other thoughts):

Recently, we've begun acquiring child-friendly musicals on DVD for our two-year-old's amusement. One in particular, "Annie," has everything that delights our son: music (or "duK" in his words), a dog ("duKE"), cars ("mums"), cars with sirens on them ("ooo mums"), a helicopter, and patent leather shoes. As recently as two weeks ago, we took Micah shoe shopping because he has been rapidly outgrowing his old ones. It took some doing to convince him to pass up the patent leather offerings and, in particular, a pair of brown suede boots with pink flowers on the sides. Although we are not keen on enforcing rigid gender-identity boundaries around our son, we're just not quite ready to oblige this preference. So, we worked hard and convinced him that the tennis shoes with a dump truck on the sides and light up velcro straps were pretty cool. For updated pictures of our pride and joy, check out the Shwebsite which has just been updated today.

For me, a renewed viewing of "Annie," which I first saw in the early 1980's as an elementary school student, has taken on new meaning. A thought-provoking question from my husband prompted me to reflect on the implied societal values within the story.

The basic plot involves an orphan ("Annie") who goes from rags to riches by melting the heart of a cold-hard capitalist by the name of Daddy Warbucks (to avoid what might become a lengthy tangent, I will refrain from commenting on the possible meanings in his last name...war-bucks? Has a certain resonance with current affairs...but I digress) who made his own way to prosperity by boarding a ship in Liverpool, England and striking it rich on Wall Street. The most well-known song of the musical is probably "Tomorrow" in which "the sun will come out," the thought of which "clears away the cobwebs and the sorrow, 'til there's none." The backdrop for the story is, of course, the Great Depression and the story includes a small role for President Franklin D. Roosevelt (who can't sing worth a damn, fyi).

What struck me this time around, is that at least one layer of "Annie's" meaning is a profound optimism surrounding the American economic system. Given the setting of the Depression, the song "Tomorrow" and the happy ending, this conclusion is not much of a stretch. The moral of Annie's story is that the rich and the poor really can get along, if only the wealthy will open up their hands in generosity and the poor will look cute in patent leather, sing, and have an endearing personality. As FDR's appearance reminds us, the poor must be willing to work hard in order to be worthy of such benevolence. Thus, the duty of the poor is to earn the favor of the capitalists by demonstrating guts, hard work and wit (a song and dance won't hurt, either) while the capitalists are to be generous with their wealth toward the "worthy" poor.

And they all lived happily ever after...