Last Living Link

          On Friday May 13, 2016 a number of news outlets ran a story about an Italian woman who appears to be the last known person in the world who was born in the 1800s. Ms. Emma Morano was born on November 29, 1899. She is 4 ½ months younger than the last known American citizen, Susannah Mushatt Jones, who born in the last year of the 19^th century and who died July 6, 2015. Ms. Jones, it should be noted, was the daughter of sharecroppers and the grand-daughter of slaves.

            Why is this story newsworthy and why does it capture people’s imagination? Could it be that people as social creatures really do care about our relational lives. Ms. Morano represents a tangible link to our personal histories. Our own national history is mired in the events of the 19^th century. Anyone who has been following the “Black Lives Matter” movement knows how much the Civil War and Reconstruction continue to color the American psyche.
            For Americans, the events of the 19^th century created the country that we know today even though the outlines of that influence grow hazier every day. For those of us in our middle ages and a bit older, we often had the chance to know someone who was born before 1900. Their world of horse drawn vehicles, no electric lights, no central heat and air, eating foods only when they were in season seems and seemed as incomprehensible as todays’ Millennials’ understanding of a world without computers.
            And yet their personal experiences were often the same as ours. They loved, mourned and tried to make the best lives they could for themselves and their families. So why does this story matter? We are looking at the last living, breathing link to a time that sits heavy on our national psyche and to loved ones whose faces we peer into in faded pictures who gave us our life with their love, sweat, work and tears.