Reno Urges ETSers to ‘Build the Right Way’ to Make a Difference
A tale involving a tiny wooden house and a mother’s determination has motivated Janet Reno, the nation’s first female leader of the U.S. Justice Department, throughout her pioneering career and life.
Although the little house had become too small for Reno’s parents and her three siblings, her parents could not afford to buy a bigger one.
So, Reno’s mother decided to build one.
“One afternoon my mother announced that she was going to build the house. And we said, ‘What do you know about building a house?’ And she said, ‘I’m going to learn.’ And she went to the brick mason, the plumber, and the electrician and she learned how to build a house,” Reno told about 300 employees and students from Trenton Central High School at the ETS Issues Forum on Oct. 19.
Reno’s mother built the new house’s foundation with her own hands, with a pick and shovel. She installed the wiring and the plumbing. And Reno’s father helped his wife with the heavy work when he came home from work at night.
That house “was a symbol to me that you can do anything that you really want if it’s the right thing to do and you put your mind to it,” Reno concluded. “It was a symbol to me: Build the right way and you can make a difference.”
Her mother’s determination continues to inspire Reno and was a central theme in the former attorney general’s presentation, “An Afternoon With Janet Reno.” Her candid discussion also touched on current events, lessons she’s learned, and the triumphs and challenges from her time in the Justice Department.
An opportunity too many miss
Appointed to head the nation’s largest law enforcement office during the Clinton administration in 1993, Reno served in that position for all eight years of his term, making her the longest-serving attorney general since before the Civil War.
“People ask me, ‘Why did you let yourself get cussed at, fussed at, and figuratively beaten around the ears?’ And my response is that it is the greatest opportunity that anyone can have to try to use the law the right way to make America freer and safer, and to give more people equal opportunity,” Reno said.
Those who are concerned about education and the nation’s future should emphasize the value of being a public servant. “It is an opportunity that too many people miss,” she continued.
Building the best educational system
If the nation wants to improve its public school system, it must start early before children reach the age of three. Reno said the nation must invest in education, provide a decent home, preventative medical care, and primary care, and teach people how to resolve conflict in a peaceful way, among other things.
“I urge you, follow my mother’s belief in all that you do here at ETS, and in the work that you do. We can build a public school system that is based on excellence, that forgets nobody, that leaves nobody behind in the truest sense of the word if we make an investment in our schools,” Reno said.
“We can build an educational system that can compete with the best around the world.”
