1/16/2008

The Dickens eagle

Last night’s Democratic debate from Las Vegas left me not just with excitement about my party, but with pride in my country which I’ve not felt throughout the Bush administration.

I owe it to my readers, I thought, to put my feelings into words. To convey emotions is the greatest challenge for a writer, so I thought it best to get a good night’s sleep and compose this important post over morning coffee.

To quell the thrill, to bring the calm that induces sleep, I listened to my book on tape. And, there it was, the promise of the debate, put in simplest terms by one of the world’s most gifted wordsmiths:

In Charles Dickens’ “The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit,” the title character and his servant, the ever-jolly Mark Tapley, had suffered grave illness, a bad land deal and a host of unsavory citizens in America and had just boarded ship to return home to England.

“What are you thinking of so steadily,” Martin asked Mark.

“Well, I was a-thinking, Sir,” returned Mark, “that if I was a painter and was called upon to paint the American eagle, how should I do it?”

“Paint it as like an eagle as you could, I suppose.”

“No,” said Mark, “that wouldn’t do it for me, Sir. I should want to draw it like a bat for its shortsightedness, like a bantam for its bragging, like a magpie for its honesty, like a peacock for its vanity, like an ostrich for its putting its head in the mud and thinking nobody sees it.”

“And like a phoenix, for its power of springing from the ashes of its faults and vices and soaring up anew into the sky,” said Martin. “Well, Mark, let us hope so.”

6 comments:

airth10 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
airth10 said...

I'm glad you are feeling more positive about your country.

Ironically, the Bush era has revitalized the political process in America, a process that many took for granted prior to George Bush.

Anonymous said...

So many disruptive policies that will have a very long range effect have been put in place that I'm not sure what any candidate can actually do, in the real environment.

I do know Mccain has said for a very long time he will be a continuation. I don't know . . .I feel endlessly positive about my country, it's the hostage situation we're in that I don't like, and I feel we will have a long time getting out of there, on a practical note.

Anonymous said...

You should leave those posts in--of course, we're all dying to read it.

B.J. said...

Three candidates vying for the same office stood together and neutered the media! Not bad for starters. And a brave soul yelled, "The questions are race-baiting," which they were, although I'm sure he was swarmed by the Secret Service. (As for the deleted comment, Airth10's comment showed up twice, so he just deleted one. Trust me I would NEVER censor comments!) BJ

Anonymous said...

I do have to say that I was always one to be into politics and especially via journalism. Loved to see the truth, loved to see the change. I have gotten very down in my hopes in the last administration, and I have forgotten what it would be like to feel "up" again. I have forgotten how good it would feel just not to be seeing things get worse. It would be nice.