In this chaotic, sometimes disastrous, sometimes poignant celebration of our country’s 250th birthday celebration there has been one simple gesture that seems to have captured people’s hearts. Let me explain but first, out of complete transparency, let me note that both my wife and I are involved in this project.
Our friend, Portuguese sailor Ricardo Diniz, had an idea he called ‘Dear America, Love Portugal.’ Ricardo’s idea was to have school children in Portugal write letters to school children in America congratulating the country on its birthday and generally writing about the love and admiration that they have for American’s and our way of life. It’s a simple idea, but to give it a twist Ricardo contacted an old friend who is the captain of the Portuguese Tall Ship Sagres and asked him to transport the letters transatlantic as Sagres and other Tall Ships from around the world converged on New York and Boston.
Ricardo gathered 700 letters from children of all ages, boxed them neatly into two boxes and stowed them aboard the Sagres. This was where my wife and I came in. Ricardo was unable to make it to Boston so he asked if we could meet the ship and pick up the letters. My wife Sally is a Special Ed (yes I am her lifetime project) Coordinator for a big school district north of Boston. We thought that it was going to be a quick handover of the boxes, but we were wrong.
Sally has a degree in journalism but chose education instead. She wrote a press release and by the time we got into Boston on our way to the ship her phone was full of messages. The local Channel 5 TV station wanted to do a story and had already sent a film crew to the Sagres. They loved the simple poignancy of the idea and cut live for a fairly lengthy segment about the letters and Sally, and then did a more in-depth interview with Sally for splicing together at a later date. The Channel 5 correspondent Kaitlin Gehlhaus from Channel 5 said that most of the Sunday morning news was covering stabbings, car crashes, overnight drug busts and the occasional shooting so the story of 700 Portuguese children writing letters to American kids really touched her and her TV crew.
Then she and Sally opened a letter. It was two pages and captured the same emotions that American children have. The writer said that she often felt anxious. She said that she always wanted to visit and maybe live in America and then ended by apologizing for her boring letter and bad handwriting. She hit a few universal themes that all children face.
Sally will see that children across the north shore of Boston get the letters and reply. Ricardo will come to the US to pick them up and return them to each student. Perhaps between Ricardo, Sally, Kaitlin Gehlhaus from Channel 5 and Commander Jose Eduardo de Sousa Luis the captain of the Sagres they may have stumbled on something special; pen pals that can grow and learn from each other in a way that is more than a quick snap chat written under the covers late at night. Pen and ink can still change lives. – Brian Hancock.
(Title inspiration thanks to Peter Gabriel)
