Uplifting story of enduring love, loyalty
It's difficult to hide the fact that things have been dreary and even depressing of late. News about the economy and the job market has been unpleasant, regardless of which elected officials are calling it a recession and which ones are choosing to call it a slowdown.
Whatever it is, it is not joyous news for most of us. And the winter has been a long, tough one.
Yes, we know that these are the kinds of winters we all grew up in, and they make us the tough Midwesterners that we are. But they are a pain.
We've also had to endure one of the most troubling trends in our nation's history -- violence on our school campuses -- right in our own backyard at Northern Illinois University.
So it's a nice change to find something uplifting.
Those of us in the news business are privileged to often come across the kind of heartwarming stories that show what the human spirit is all about. This time, it comes in the form of two 95-year-old people who have been married for 75 years.
The story of Max and Ida Swartwood is one that we can all embrace in knowing that no matter how difficult things seem at the time, and no matter how much evil and hard times that life tries to throw our way, it is possible to survive and even thrive on two basic human elements -- loyalty and love.
The Swartwoods, who live at Provena Pine View Care Center in St. Charles, were to be featured in the St. Patrick's Day parade through downtown St. Charles yesterday and are slated to be with family and friends at the Hotel Baker today to cap off a weekend celebrating their 75 years of marriage.
It is a feat that seems so foreign in this modern day -- partly because both partners in a marriage rarely live long enough to mark that extraordinary diamond anniversary, and also because at least 30 to 40 percent of marriages result in separations or divorces (though that trend has gone down rather than up in the past decade).
To hear the Swartwoods' story is to hear a story of a rural America that exists only in the history books, but with morals and values that are vital today -- if we give them a chance. This is a story of love and devotion through sickness and health, and of desire to work hard for what you want, and making your family and your spiritual strength the most important things in the world.
When Max Swartwood says he doesn't regret a single minute of his 75 years with wife Ida, we find ourselves wondering if such bliss is even possible. It is possible, if we can find the discipline to follow his simple rules -- never say a cross word to your spouse and never quarrel. Expand that to our dealings with all people, and we might see some of these other problems that cause so much concern disappear from our lives.