Life Rewritten
I wish I’d had the chance to meet the late Katherine Graham, head of the Washington Post Company. As my world mostly revolves around central Illinois, not Washington, D.C., I hardly recognized her name when her death was recently reported. I became intrigued with Katharine’s life, however, as I read about her, listened to friends and reporters share their experiences and impressions of her, then watched her funeral on CNN.
It reminded me again how little we know about our neighbors, friends, and colleagues. We mostly move in and out of people’s lives based on geography, career, our family, and special interests. I became an instant admirer of Katharine—how she had lived "two lives"—described by herself as "doormat wife and working woman."
Today, more than in any other generation, the people we meet may very well be living in their "second life." Crises such as divorce, death, disability or bankruptcy—not to mention today’s opportunities for multiple career changes and choices—force our anticipated life’s journey to detour and even take a completely different road from where we began. I’ve often remembered a past event or situation as having happened in "another life," since it was so different from my present circumstances.
Katharine was given the opportunity to rewrite her life, and she did so with courage, dignity and beauty.
In her autobiography, Katharine wrote, "I didn’t understand the immensity of what lay before me, how frightened I would be by much of it, how tough it was going to be and how many anxious hours and days I would spend for a long, long time. Nor did I realize how much I was eventually going to enjoy it all."
Katharine’s legacy to all women is hope for rewriting one’s life. There are many women in this community with similar success stories: A stay-at-home mom with a high school education can begin her own business or go back for a college degree; an abused wife can leave for shelter and emotional support to become a strong, self-supporting single parent; a widow can successfully assume control of the family business upon her husband’s death; a mother can become a political lobbyist after a drunk driver kills her child; a laid-off or early-retirement employee can choose a career they’ve "always wanted to do ..."
Insecure, afraid, yet determined and courageous, they are survivors who would never consider themselves special, but just "keep on working." We cannot imagine what inner strength, what passion, what endurance lay dormant within us until some event triggers action. Crisis comes in disguise, often, and it can be a privilege of sorts when the opportunity to rewrite one’s life is recognized.
Despite the prominent social status in which Katharine grew up, the choices, emotions, insecurities, hard work—the blood, sweat, and tears—she experienced, is the same roller coaster all ride when change is forced upon us. She died at age 84, taken by surprise, while still working. Survivors keep working, I believe, because they can ... and they discover it’s a privilege they enjoy.
Her honesty and willingness to share the hard work that went into her success again proves in my mind the extraordinary woman she was. What I hope for readers of The Peoria Woman is that they, too, will find encouragement in the real-life, local role models featured each month.
While I am no Katherine Graham, I believe in her legacy—that each of us, while insecure and afraid, can rewrite our lives given the opportunity. I’m in my "second life" as this month marks the fourth anniversary of my owning Central Illinois Business Publishers.
Life can be rewritten. TPW