What It Was (July 20)
One year ago today Trump outdid himself rhetorically, reaching astonishing heights of inspiration during a dark hour of American crisis. It was a stirring challenge to the better angels of our nature. Speaking of the pandemic’s rising death toll, Trump tugged at the heartstrings of America when he declared to Chris Wallace, “It is what it is.”
Grown men wept in the streets. Entire communities rushed to volunteer at hospitals, to check on their neighbors. Masks sold out in minutes.
This, of course, echoed George Bush’s clarion call as he stood in the rubble of 9/11. Speaking through his bullhorn, he roared, “It is what it is.”
Bill Clinton at Oklahoma City. FDR after Pearl. “A day which will live.”
Robert Lee at Gettysburg meeting Pickett’s men after their disastrous charge. He rode out and rising in his stirrups commented, “It is what it is.”
“It is what it is.” Leaders have turned to this phrase in times of crisis over and over again.
A clear-headed admission of fact. A scientifically precise definition of the problem. It is, in fact, exactly what it is.
A declaration of faith in the providential administration of earth’s affairs by almighty God. The line is best spoken with eyes turned upward. It is, almighty father, what it is. We accept what is with stoic faith.
Christ on the cross: “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit, for, I now realize, it is what it is.”
And, of course, a call to action. Note the present tense. It is what it is. But must it stay what it now is? Implicit in these stirring words is the challenge of leadership. It is now what it is, but it may soon be what it is not now. A shiver of possibility runs up one’s spine.
For who can forget Custer at Little Bighorn raising his sword on high, shaking his golden locks, and rallying his men. “Men, it is what it is.”
And valiant warriors died with smiles on their faces knowing they gave their lives for the immutable “what is,” and for the possibility, however slight, that the immutable might become mutable, what is might become what is not now but might someday be …
End Times (July 23)
Reports out of Alabama.
Dr. Brytney Cobia, writing on Facebook: “I’m admitting young healthy people to the hospital with very serious COVID infections. One of the last things they do before they’re intubated is beg me for the vaccine. I hold their hand and tell them that I’m sorry, but it’s too late.
A few days later when I call time of death, I hug their family members and I tell them the best way to honor their loved one is to go get vaccinated and encourage everyone they know to do the same.
They cry. And they tell me they didn’t know. They thought it was a hoax. They thought it was political. They thought because they had a certain blood type or a certain skin color they wouldn’t get as sick. They thought it was ‘just the flu’. But they were wrong. And they wish they could go back. But they can’t. So they thank me and they go get the vaccine. And I go back to my office, write their death note, and say a small prayer that this loss will save more lives.
All you really see is their fear and their regret. And even though I may walk into the room thinking, ‘Okay, this is your fault, you did this to yourself,’ when I leave the room, I just see a person that’s really suffering, and that is so regretful for the choice that they made.”
Alabama Republican Governor Kay Ivey: “Folks are supposed to have common sense. But it’s time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks, not the regular folks. It’s the unvaccinated folks that are letting us down.”
Report out of D. C.
In light of the tragedy hospitalizing and killing primarily their conservative constituents, House GOP leaders announced plans for a Capitol Hill press conference “to discuss the need for individuals to get vaccinated.”
They spent the bulk of the presser accusing Democrats of covering up the origins of the virus. Only when reporters pushed them did they get around to reluctantly mumbling a few stock phrases about how it might be a good idea to get a vaccine.
When a political party prioritizes political gain over life and death, it is likely time to end that party…