Glenn Beck: Grandma's house

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January 7, 2009 - 13:35 ET

GLENN: Our country is like my grandmother's house. My grandmother, she lived on this great street and everybody knew each other. Everybody was friends. Sometimes somebody would move into the neighborhood. They didn't usually last long. But if there was a problem on the street, everybody went to that other person's house. It's in a small town -- well, not so small anymore, of Puyallup, Washington. And my Grandma lived in the same house ever since I can remember. It was a farm. Now, when my grandfather was around, my grandfather had a shotgun. My grandfather was a pretty sharp dude. My grandmother was, too, but she was softer. She trusted people. My grandfather was a guy that could look you in the eye and go, "I think you're more full of crap than I am." You couldn't get anything by my grandfather. But my grandmother, especially as she began to age, you could get things by her. And so what did we do as a family? We would look out for Grandma. Now, grandma's house had all of the stuff that she owned and it was a great house and it was warm and she was always making cookies and blueberry pies. "I've got to go over to Russell's house. He looked kind of sad. I'm going to make him a pie." And she would make him a pie. She would cut him -- she would cut some of the flowers in her backyard and she would put them in a glass. They didn't use vases. She would just put them in either a Mason jar or a glass and she would bring them over. They didn't look fancy, they didn't have baby's breath in them, they didn't have any ferns. They were just roses or hydrangeas that she had put and she would put them in a jar and she would bring them over to the neighbor because they were a little down, she sensed something was wrong, somebody had done her a favor, whatever. Just because. That's Grandma. We all have a Grandma. We all have grandma's house. And now Grandma is older. In my case she's gone. But for this analogy let's just all remember our Grandma wards the twilight years of her life where the family re ally needed to protect her. Now, let's say grandma's house has really kind of fallen into a neighborhood that's not quite as good as it used to be. It's not the neighborhood that Grandma used to live in. Some of the neighbors have changed out. Some of the neighbors are now kind of dicey. Some of the neighbors, some of the neighbors are still there. In fact, the majority of the neighbors are still good. But grandma's got her lawn gnomes and she's got them all over and she's still working in her garden and sometimes she works until, you know, dusk. Sometimes she's out, she wants to take a walk. Sometimes it starts to get dark. Grandma always left her door open. She trusted everybody. But now the lawn gnomes have disappeared. In fact, since October Grandma has lost 50% of her lawn gnomes. You're in a big family and you say, "Hey, Grandma, Grandma, Grandma, neighbors, the neighborhood has changed just a little bit but, you know, let's take all your lawn gnomes in. You want to take your lawn gnomes in for a while." And your brother says, "Grandma, there's nothing wrong. You leave your lawn gnomes out there. They're fine. You leave them out there." "Stop scaring Grandma." "No, I'm not scaring her. I'm just telling her to bring her lawn gnomes in. Grandma, put them in the garage for a while." "Let's tell Grandma the truth a little bit." "Stop, you're scaring her." "Grandma, just put your lawn gnomes in." "No, Grandma, don't put your lawn gnomes in. In fact, now is the time to buy more gnomes." "Give her hope." "It's a false sense of security. The people are stealing her lawn gnomes." "Grandma, listen. The neighborhood, look, we're trying our best to turn it around but there's some problems in the neighborhood. We think there's a crackhouse right down the street and we just really need to take care of -- you know what, and lock your door at night." "What are you doing, don't lock -- don't tell Grandma to lock her door. Now she is going to be freaking out all night." "Grandma, don't freak out. If you lock your door, you don't have to freak out. Just lock your door." "Oh, now she's going to be up all night." "No, she won't. You are freaking her out more by telling her that there's nothing going on and then her lawn gnomes are missing." What are they, real actual gnomes, they are just, they are on Travelocity, they are just all of a sudden in a hotel in Switzerland?

All Grandma wants to do is just make a pie for her neighbors, and you've got a brother who's saying go out and buy more. You've got a sister who's yelling at you for scaring Grandma. And all you're trying to do is protect Grandma and to protect grandma's house. You believe in Grandma, you don't think she's senile. You know who she is. But it's your job to protect her. But making her feel good in a false sense of security, you are doing more harm than good. You are actually trying to -- you are actually treating her like she's a 2-year-old. Stop it. She's your grandmother. She has more experience. I have more faith in my grandmother than I do in any of you. As I would turn to my brothers and sisters. And they would say, "She's old. Stop it."

That's the beginning of the table that I'd like to set with you. But you have to decide which person are you? Are you the old feeble grandmother who's actually not old and feeble but everybody is telling you you're old and feeble, that can actually put a home security system, can lock the door, can take the lawn gnomes in, and it won't freak you out, it won't be a problem. "Thanks for the information, okay, I'm look out. Which one is the crackhouse? Do all the neighbors know? I'll be in there. I'll help out." Are you that person? Are you the brother or sister that yelling at somebody else saying, "Stop freaking them out. You just don't believe in Grandma anymore. You just don't believe in the street." No, I believe in the street. I believe in the neighborhood. I believe in Grandma, I believe in the house. I want Grandma to have the house. I want the neighborhood to be restored to the way it was. But I'm going to tell Grandma to lock her door and take her lawn gnomes and put them in the garage and don't buy anymore for right now and then I'm going to go out on the street every night and I'm going to do everything I can to get those damn crack dealers out of my grandmother's neighborhood because it's my neighborhood, too. I grew up on that street. I don't want that neighborhood gone. I don't want that neighborhood changing in a negative way. That dream of my grandmother's street lives in me every day. I hated that street when I grew up. I love that street now. I'd give my right arm now to live on that street. And I'm not going to treat my Grandma like she's feeble. I'm going to tell her the truth. Because by telling my Grandma the truth, she'll protect her stuff. And I don't care what my brothers and sisters say. I'm also going to patrol the streets at night, and I ask you to join me.