I had not planned to watch the John McCain funeral, but I happened to be sleepless last night and noted that it was live-streaming on YouTube. Of course, it was night here in Bali, while it was morning there on the east coast of the US.
Anyway, I'm happy that I did tune into the broadcast, as I came away, as many must have done, with a renewed sense of hope for America and for the future of America. I was reminded that what is happening now in our government is not the norm, but a particularly ugly departure from the norm. It was a pleasure to hear people of integrity speak with eloquence not only about a great man but about the worthy, time honored ideals of the nation he represented--ideals that have suffered terribly in our present time, yet which I am persuaded must rise again and prevail in the course of time. We have gotten ourselves into a mess, it is true, but I think that the mess is even now collapsing under the burden of its own messiness. In the end, the rule of law will prevail, morality will prevail, brotherhood will prevail, the dream will prevail.
With their well-considered words, words from the heart, George Bush and Barack Obama spoke compellingly of what we are, what we are in danger of losing, and what we shall surely regain. The night is darkest, as is said, before the dawn. Meghan McCain, the senator's daughter, told his story with such love and passion that her words brought tears to my eyes again and again.
These are the people we know. These are the people who speak for us--not perfectly so in any single case, not in every particular, but in the long view, in the wide view, in the American view: Barack Obama, George Bush, Meghan McCain. John McCain.
During the service, a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins was quoted, and I truly appreciated these verses for the first time, able to hear the words with the proper cadence
I say more: the just man justices,
Keeps grace; that keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is--
Christ--for Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men's faces.
Anyway, I'm happy that I did tune into the broadcast, as I came away, as many must have done, with a renewed sense of hope for America and for the future of America. I was reminded that what is happening now in our government is not the norm, but a particularly ugly departure from the norm. It was a pleasure to hear people of integrity speak with eloquence not only about a great man but about the worthy, time honored ideals of the nation he represented--ideals that have suffered terribly in our present time, yet which I am persuaded must rise again and prevail in the course of time. We have gotten ourselves into a mess, it is true, but I think that the mess is even now collapsing under the burden of its own messiness. In the end, the rule of law will prevail, morality will prevail, brotherhood will prevail, the dream will prevail.
With their well-considered words, words from the heart, George Bush and Barack Obama spoke compellingly of what we are, what we are in danger of losing, and what we shall surely regain. The night is darkest, as is said, before the dawn. Meghan McCain, the senator's daughter, told his story with such love and passion that her words brought tears to my eyes again and again.
These are the people we know. These are the people who speak for us--not perfectly so in any single case, not in every particular, but in the long view, in the wide view, in the American view: Barack Obama, George Bush, Meghan McCain. John McCain.
During the service, a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins was quoted, and I truly appreciated these verses for the first time, able to hear the words with the proper cadence
I say more: the just man justices,
Keeps grace; that keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is--
Christ--for Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men's faces.
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