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