Two Very Different Historic Topics of
Now ...
The Covid War Continues
It
would have been very difficult to imagine, in early March of last year, that we
would still be battling THE virus. One really has to feel for the legion of
frontline workers who have been struggling at those front lines trying, with
great courage, to contain the pandemic. They had nearly succeeded and then seen
a resurgence; nearly succeeded again and then came this current attack which
seems like the most virulent resurgence of all. How those frontline workers
have the resilience to continue is heroic? We will be forever in their debt.
I
presume one could say that most people have done their best but of course there
are exceptions. The questions are not new about airports, cross-border travel, tracing,
- which seems to be abandoned- and all those topics which seem to be on a loop
on communication outlets.
One
hears, from time to time, people who get infected expressing their puzzlement
as to where they could have picked it up. The virus is so insidious with
nightmarish tentacles.
The
great hope is with the vaccines. So if we can continue with our adherence to
guideline contribution, to our country and ourselves, as we enter the spring
time of the year, we can once again renew our hope that the broad War may be
receding.
“This
is not the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
The Presidential Inauguration in the
United (!) States;
The
swearing-in of President Biden was a very interesting and relaxing event. In a
sense millions of people exhaled a sigh of relief at a return of a kind of
normality. There was also the end of a turbulent four years when an
extraordinary President inflamed passions and was seen by so many to be so
extreme in so many ways. (Now one always has to be conscious of the fact that
Donald Trump got over 74 million votes).
Trump
crashed in a number of the avenues he chose to go down especially in the
post-election months. His insistence on the idea that the election was a fraud
when so many pointers showed otherwise was one. It is referred to as ‘The Great
Lie’, apparently having a historical precedent. The real crash came with the
Rally of January 6th when President Trump encouraged his supporters
to challenge the political establishment in the Capitol. This they did in a
very unforgiving way and Trump’s response was neither reasonable or politically
smart.
When
someone makes a mistake he might ask himself ‘What was I thinking about’. More
often that question is asked ‘What were you thinking about?’ So Trump, Giuliana
and Donald Jnr. all lost it in that they could hardly have envisaged the
carnage they were encouraging. Or could they?
This
led to the second Impeachment which is proceeding now even if Trump is no
longer a President. It is pretty obvious that President Biden is struggling
with this action. On the one hand, there is a feeling of necessity to punish
Tump’s behaviour and responsibility for the March on the Capitol and the
deaths, destruction and Insurrection style symbolism of it all. Also, there is
the idea that it is the only real opportunity to clear Trump from getting back on
the political stage.
For
Biden on the other hand it is going to be a big distraction from that precious
first 100 days and keeps Trump in the limelight and indulge his huge support.
Then, of course, there is the danger of making Trump some kind of martyr and we
in Irish history know a bit about that.
The
U.S. is said to be nearly as divided now as in the period after the Civil War
of the 1860s’. The period after their Civil War was known the period of ‘Reconstruction’
but others also see it as a continuance of the Civil War with the Suppression
of the rights of coloured people in the South and so on.
Perhaps
some winter hence the Night Class scene could include a course on United States
History.
Returning
to the Inauguration, there was a great feel to it, of peace, hope and
celebration. The theme was one of bipartisanship and coming together. While
Biden is in in a strong position in the political houses it seems as if the
ongoing policy of the Republicans in the Senate will be one of obstruction and
delay. A lot of the sentiment expressed immediately after January 6th
will be cast aside.
The
big chess piece here is Mitch McConnell.
Getting
back again to Jan. 20th, there was a big inclusion of faith and
practitioners of faith with the huge Bible, priest friend and Reverend friend.
The entertainment was loud and colourful with Lady Gaga punching it out with J
Lo and Garth Brooks with Amazing Grace. Keep in mind the M.C. Amy Klobuchar
whose joy was so evident. Last summer she was seen as a Vice President candidate
but stepped back from it. The really happy face in it all was Vice-President Kamala
Harris. She is the first woman to be such and a real contender. She is bound to
attempt goin the extra step up when the opportunity arises.
For
me though the lady who stole the show was the 22-year-old Poet Laureate, Amanda
Gorman with a ‘poem’ titled ‘The Hill We Climb’. It was not just a reading or
recital of a poem but a performance of art as the clear voice, the gesticulating
hands and all her body and soul exclaimed her message.
I
encourage you to Google her performance on U Tube. It could join some of the great speech passages such
as President J.F Kennedy’s
‘Ask not
what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country’
or the great
‘I Have a Dream’ speech of Martin Luther
King, who, in a sense, enabled Amanda and Kamala to be on the Capitol podium on
Jan. 20th.
For
me to go onto some more mundane topics, after listening to Amanda again there
now, does not seem appropriate.
I think I’ll take a good break and end here
with two favourite conclusion extracts, the first from Thomas Kinsella’s poem;
‘Mirror in February’
“I fold my towel with what grace I
can,
Not young, and not renewable, but
man”.
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This
vies with some closing lines from Robert Frost’s;
‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’.
‘The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep’.
(Frost
recited a poem at J.F. K’s inauguration)
Take
Care
and
‘May your Gods go with you’ (Dave Allen).
Sin
é.
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