This story is part of America @ 250: The Questions Before Us, a series from IPM News and the Illinois Student Newsroom.
URBANA — A birthday is a time for celebration and reflection: Where have we been? Where are we right now? And where are we going?
IPM is celebrating America’s 250th birthday by inviting people from across east-central Illinois to share what they think are the most important questions facing Americans at this historic moment.
Kay Weidner grew up near Crystal Lake Park in north Urbana and still lives in the area. Members of her family have served in the military since at least World War II, and she loves a good Fourth of July Parade.
The following transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
My name is Kay Weidner. I grew up in Urbana. I went to Urbana High School, was in Girl Scouts, track, in the band. I worked at the university for 20 years at the supercomputer department. My family’s all still here, and that’s exciting.
The most important question that’s facing America now is, “Who am I? Who am I?” I can be this or I can be that. I could be a good person. I could be a bad person. I think we need to make positive decisions. Positivity would be immense if everybody was positive together and working together.
I love the Fourth of July. My birthday is the 7th of July, so we always go to the parade. You know, a couple of years ago, during Covid, when there was no parade, I sat on Lincoln Avenue with my flag for two hours. And people drove by and thinking there’s some goofy person. But I love that parade. I don’t think we missed hardly any parades my whole life.
I feel real patriotic, I really do. I feel real proud of the United States. I feel like I’m very lucky and very blessed to live in this country.
The military is in my family. My husband was in the National Guard. My daughter’s husband was a Marine in Afghanistan. My dad was in World War Two. They call that the Greatest Generation; They were. Those people all went. They went, and some did not come back. It was a time that they all stood up for America and showed their support and spirit and fight.
I think things have changed a little bit on that. I don’t know about people wanting to run and jump in the military since then. There’s been a lot of bad times, like in Afghanistan — a lot of people killed, people come back that committed suicide. But I think now things are changing back to more support for the military.
Trump has helped bring that back. He supports the military 100%. I’m terrified what’s going to change when he’s no longer in office. I don’t see anybody that would step up like Trump did unless it’s a Republican.
But the other party are so different that I’m scared to death. I have children and grandchildren. And I don’t know what this world is going to be for them when they grow up.
A few years ago, Biden was president and it seemed like the government, they wanted to cancel all the police. That was really wrong, in my opinion.
I have noticed positive changes since Biden. We’re trying to get our police officers back and support our officers. Trump is trying to catch criminals and export people that don’t belong here or people that have, you know, committed crimes on Americans, that are illegal aliens. I think that helps.
But I also do not appreciate some of the things that he says or the way he says it. Sometimes Trump comes across a little, cocky, I suppose, but I think I understand who he is and what he’s trying to do. But if a Democrat got in, I’m going to be scared to death what they’re going to do or take away from us.
So sure I’m fearful for my kids and grandchildren and on about people not following the rules and what it’s going to be like for them.
Rules mean to me just what you learn when you go to church, that you love one another. God made everybody. So God loves everybody. And we need to love everybody. We need to be good to our neighbor. We need to be helpful. We don’t go throw dirt and mud on their house. It doesn’t hurt you to be nice to anybody.
Just think about an Illinois basketball team. I’ve noticed that those players come from different countries. They’re different backgrounds, different religions, different colors. They have to follow the rules of the game.
And if the referee blows the whistle because somebody’s made a foul, nobody pulls out a gun to shoot the referee. That’s the rules. They kind of get a little irritated, but you know, they pick up and start playing again. They follow the rules. And I think that’s very important that we all learn what the rules are and follow the rules in life.
This story was reported by Annisyn Krebs-Carr and produced for IPM News by Charles “Stretch” Ledford. If you have an idea for the America @ 250 series or would like to be featured in an upcoming story, contact Charles “Stretch” Ledford at stretch@illinois.edu.