The Mystery of the Lost Peace: Nancy Drew Series # 57

• Location: romance section (?), Used Books Store
• Date: May 10, 2008
• Description: small yellow crane with the Dwight D. Eisenhower quote, “I think that people want peace so much that one of these days government had better get out of their way and let them have it,” written in brown.

I love old Nancy Drew books — the ones that are hardcover and blue-bound and so old that the pages crumble whenever you thumb through them. I collect these, but I’m not a hardcore collector who makes sure the dust jackets are intact and no one’s written on the inside cover. I just like them. And every so often, I poke my nose into a store that sells used books in search of ones I don’t have. This particular store had one blue-bound edition that I happen to own already. Rats! But on the bright side, they had an amazing setting for this crane picture.

If anyone could find peace, I’m sure it would be Nancy Drew. In the early books, she questioned authority all the time. She broke into houses and trespassed, and all she had to do was tell the police her suspicions and they would be right behind her. With her cool-headed decision-making skills, she would’ve been great in foreign relations when she grew up. Too bad she never aged past 18. (Did you notice, by the way, that I revised the Senate letter and posted it to the Think Peace page? I sent that crane out last Friday.)

I would like to be in politics. I think I could influence a lot of change, but I’m not sure if that’s my vanity talking, or my experiences in college — sometimes I think they’re the same thing. Does enthusiasm and hard work count for anything anymore? I keep thinking about that Dumbledore line in the end of book 7, where he says, “perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it. Those who, like you [Harry], have leadership thrust upon them, and take up the mantle because they must, and find to their own surprise that they wear it well.” What happens when the people who have leadership thrust upon them find themselves liking the position and eventually seeking it? Do they become the people Dumbledore talks about in the first part of the quote? I keep going back to this, trying to figure out where I fit in and if I’m actually suited to leadership. I know this isn’t the only judge, or even the best way to judge what I can or should do, but it’s stuck in the back of my mind.

I worked a bit on my “garden” this weekend. I wish it were as easy to get my hands dirty working for peace.