I have been a life-long Liberal, living somewhere to the left of the middle in the political spectrum. In my mind, I find the Conservative’s view of what modern day America should be to be extremely short-sighted, monolithic and even cruel. No matter what “modern day” we’re living in. I will never understand the political right’s resistance to climate change and the science behind it, other than for monetary profit; the adamant resistance to responsible gun control and furtherance of the antiquated second amendment that was born of a very different time in this country; the stubborn, and in many instances, piously hypocritical “Christian” view of the LGBTQ community.
On this day, however, all politics are put aside. Watching the emotional, heart-felt funeral ceremony of former First Lady Barbara Bush televised this morning, I am overwhelmed by our ability to come together as one community, one society, one tribe, one people, to mourn the passing and remember one of our own for how they lived their life on this earth. This is how this country works best and how this country should live–conservative, liberal, independent, atheist, whatever–we shouldn’t have to wait until a national tragedy or a national funeral brings us together.
The life of Barbara Bush, as eulogized so elegantly by her family and friends, has galvanized me, more for the private things we didn’t know about this woman rather than what we knew about her based upon her public life. Her humanity, faith and love of people, no matter who they were or where they came from, should be a model for us all on how to live together. The eulogy mentioned her strong personality and how she was the real “head of the family” …as most women are, in my opinion. As someone who has been married to the love of my life for over forty two years, the revelation of the enchanting love story and seventy three years of marriage of Barbra Bush to her partner in life, former President George Herbert Walker Bush, made an impression on me I didn’t expect.
The talking heads TV coverage mentioned the American political history on display at this funeral, with the presence of members of The Kennedy family, the Johnson family, The Nixon family, The Clintons, The Obamas and The Bush family, coming together to celebrate the life of a beloved member of our country’s “Greatest Generation” and how Republicans and Democrats can come together on common ground in a show of unity, humanity and real American values.
The fact that Donald Trump wasn’t present was both wonderful and sickening at the same time. Wonderful in that the country had a reprieve from this vile buffoon whose presence alone can diminish and despoil a loving human moment such as this. Sickening in that the sitting President of the United States was not in attendance to show respect to an honorable First Lady of our nation. The current First Lady was there, alone, (as I’m sure she would rather be) in a painfully disappointing pretense of respect from this current administration. The visual was clear. She was alone. The current President was in Florida, where earlier in the week, he was golfing.
SAD.