The Earnheardts | What ‘Hamilton’ taught me about the pandemic

I have a characteristic that my family and friends find peculiar. It goes against what most people consider normal.

I don’t enjoy listening to music. I don’t freak out or anything when someone’s favorite song comes on, and I do normal social activities that involve music from time to time (i.e., dancing, concerts, singing out loud and off-key). But, given a choice, I never turn it on of my own volition.

Because of this quirk, I just don’t appreciate music the way most people do. However, when your kids become obsessed with singing each lyric from every song in Lin Manuel-Mirana’s masterpiece "Hamilton," it’s hard not to pick up some of their excitement. Plus, even though I don’t like music, I am a fan of history, particularly the story of the American Revolution. This appeals to my appreciation for the early days of the American project when folks who led the armies that overthrew their government were then tasked with writing the Constitution of the United States.

As an added bonus, there’s something special about hearing our three girls, Ella, Kate and Sadie, take on the roles and lyrics of Eliza, Angelica and Peggy. It's extra sweet to hear all four of their little voices, Ozzie included, try to rap and sing the parts of Lafayette, Mulligan, Laurens, and Hamilton.

I mean, what mom wouldn’t like to referee a fight over who gets to be George Washington during playtime?

The love of "Hamilton" has been going on for years now. Just as I was starting to forget the lyrics, the kids found renewed vigor for their favorite tunes a few weeks ago with the musical’s debut on Disney+.

On Friday, July 3, we watched "Hamilton" together as a family. It was a brunch date and we called it “Green Eggs and Ham-ilton,” although Adam was the only one brave enough to eat the eggs.

I'd been so preoccupied with the downside of being caught in a global pandemic that I never expected to have an epiphany while watching, of all things, a musical. Even though I’d heard it a million times before that day, when the words “I am not throwing away my shot” rang through the Earnheardt house, they hit a new chord with me.

It’s always been a song about taking chances, of a person with little to lose deciding to seize opportunities and the fulfillment of engaging in life.

When the kids were little, Adam and I made the calls about worthy pursuits. We decided what shots the kids would take by gently pushing them into specific activities, and by doing this, automatically ruling out other possibilities.

As I watched "Hamilton" and listened to the songs, I couldn’t help but think that the time being stolen by the pandemic is causing us to miss some of those shots.

As the idea developed, my initial regret turned to hope. What if this time in lockdown is actually giving us time to take aim at the things we really want? I see this playing out firsthand in the socially-isolated lives of our children.

Ozzie is likely to grow into a tall man thanks to his father’s genes (Adam is 6-foot-8). Because of this, I have dreams of being the mother of an NBA superstar. Now that our seasonal basketball leagues at the YMCA have been tabled, all he wants to do is hone his stand-up routine. He wants to act. He wants to perform. He studies (relatively clean) comedians on YouTube and is invested in getting good at making people laugh. And, if I’m honest, seeing the look of satisfaction on his face after he lands a joke is much better than his casual indifference to making a basket or grabbing a rebound.

Sadie has always been a little quiet and shy. At school, she likes to be around really assertive kids and I always thought she was a follower. But, seeing her at home, day after day, she is also very organized, responsible and whip-smart. She also has very good persuasion skills. Although Adam complains that she’s manipulative when Sadie breaks out the puppy dog eyes, I don’t see it like that. The girl just knows how to read an audience.

Sadie also has power and charisma. I believed she was going to be part of the crowd, but I'll be damned if she doesn't have the raw materials of a future leader. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but when Ozzie won't listen to me, I send in Sadie to work her magic. If she can wrangle him during a pandemic, I’m quite certain she could run a Fortune 500 company if she wanted to.

Kate has been in her room for much of the pandemic. We normally force her into the world and make her do stuff. Turns out, she’s happiest in her bed with her drawing pad. She’s filled several sketchbooks and is taking commissions on the Amino app. Adam and I had low-key been pushing her into robotics and to be a coder, but she loves paper and pencils and turning the images in her mind into beautiful works of art. Maybe one day she’ll code robots to draw the beautiful works of art that consume Kate’s mind.

Ella is the only one who is really keeping up with the same activities she did before the pandemic. She’s also the oldest, and maybe this caused her to be more entrenched in the paths we set for her before March 2020. While the pandemic rages, she’s also been cautious about returning to the things that brought her joy (i.e., she chose not to return to band camp because she is irrationally afraid of getting someone else sick).

Instead, Ella’s eyes are fixed on the future, and trips abroad and around the U.S. when travel is safer. She’s taking this time to work and save, taking any odd job a family member will throw her way, in hopes of filling the France 2021 piggy bank, understanding that visiting the Eiffel Tower might be more realistic and safer in 2022 or 2023.

The song I’ve been referencing here, "My Shot," is about Alexander Hamilton realizing that he’s in a position to make a real difference in the world. The lyrics go:

Hey yo, I’m just like my country,

I’m young, scrappy, and hungry,

And I’m not throwing away my shot.

My kids and all the children whose lives have been disrupted by the virus have a chance to explore their own possibilities. They are young, scrappy and hungry. With the demands of modern childhood out of the way, there’s a window of opportunity for them to grow into the best versions of themselves.

I realize this is a bold prediction, but my bet is that 2020 won’t cause this generation to be set back by the pandemic. Instead, these young people will rise up and have a chance to grow into adulthood with the advantage of having found themselves.

I’m looking forward to the future they’ll build.

— Mary Beth Earnheardt is a professor in the Anderson Program in Journalism at Youngstown State University where she advises student media. You can follow her on Twitter at @mbexoxo.

This story was originally published August 10, 2020 at 4:11 AM with the headline "The Earnheardts | What ‘Hamilton’ taught me about the pandemic."