Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny/ 4 June 1976 – 16 February 2024 courtesy of wikipedia.org
I shared a person’s comment on Facebook the other day that called for the end of perks to members of Congress until they started legislating. Many on my thread favored the idea. No one opposed it. The citizenry, it appeared, was united in its impatience with its leaders.
Unfortunately, the politics that divide elected officials stem from old divisions in the country. Since the Civil War, the government has limped into the future like a horse yoked to a mule. The horse valued freedom. The mule wanted freedom, too, but not for everyone. The difference in values seems to have grown deeper of late, leaving the rule of law as the sole means of uniting the nation.
Laws are the outcroppings of reasonable minds, and there’s little of that in evidence these days. The Chair of the Democratic Party recently declared that members of his conference who opposed Joe Biden’s Presidential run were certifiably crazy. I agree, but to be fair, certifiably crazy extends beyond democrats.
House Republicans hold a slim majority in that body. Even so, without cause, they dared to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Heady with their narrow victory, they plan to impeach Joe Biden, also without cause.
Arbitrary and capricious decision-making is akin to the logic judges apply in beauty contests. No wonder the Supreme Court is tossing out appeal after appeal as if sorting through a tub of rotten fish.
Common sense would have settled many of these cases if common sense were in fashion. That it has lost favor explains how Donald Trump’s acolytes can applaud his 2024 Presidential bid despite his 91 felony counts. Compare their values to those applied to Richard Nixon in the 1970s when Republicans and Democrats agreed on the difference between right and wrong.
Today, when insanity passes for normalcy, it’s not only troubling but painful to watch. Members of the Republican Congressional delegation behave like contortionists. Twisting and squirming, they struggle to justify the madness though not in service to their country but to their careers.
Had their defense of Trump been genuine, their delusion would be worthy of pity, the way we might react to see a man on his hands and knees barking like a dog. But as the conduct is nefarious, their affliction exposes the degree of decay in our body politic and leaves one to wonder how long democracy can survive.
To answer the question, I will tell a story.
While grocery shopping one day, I stopped at the frozen food section looking for a package of blueberries. The shelf was too high for me to reach, so I turned to a red-bearded young man a few paces to my left. He was perusing food entrees at the time, suggesting that he lived alone. His personal story was of no interest to me, however, What drew me to him like a bee to pollen was his height.
“Excuse me,” I said sidling next to him. “Could you reach a packet of blueberries for me? My arms are too short.”
Offering no objection, the young man followed me to the fruit section of the freezer and sifted through the packets on the top shelf with his large hand. Seconds later, he delivered the bad news. “Just blackberries, I’m afraid.”
“Oh no,” I cried like an addict in need of a fix. “And I’ve none at home.” Unable to hide my disappointment, I thanked the young man for his trouble and headed my cart in the direction of the bread counter. Maybe I could find a blueberry muffin?
A short time later, a hand touched my shoulder. “I did a little reconnoitering,” said the young man with the beard as I looked up. ”These blueberries were at the back, lying on their side. I thought you might like to have them.”
He shrugged as he tossed the fruit into my basket and started to walk away, but not before I told him he’d earned a gold star for his effort. A silly remark, worthy of kindergarten, I was surprised to see a smile part his lips. For a moment, we shared a recollection, one that reminded me that I was old and he was so young!
Watching him walk away, I doubted I’d ever see him again. No matter. To the universe, I sent a wish on his behalf. “Please, let this young man find a loving companion.”
Encounters of this kind are common every day in grocery stores. And that’s my point. Strangers are often being kind to strangers. The young man who’d done a little reconnoitering on my behalf was one of them. He’d gone a step further than expected. My disappointment was trivial, yet it had moved him.
Compassion is the jewel in the crown of human emotion. Alexi Navalny who died for his countrymen had it. His wife, Yulia Navalnaya seems equally prepared to make the same sacrifice. When I think of this couple, I am reminded of a line from Casablanca. Of all the gin joints in all the towns in the world…” they’d found each other, loved, and clung to each other for as long as Vladamir Putin would allow.
I’m not sure why some who suffer grow kinder while others turn cruel. We humans know so little about ourselves. Scientists, for example, have discovered an obelisk in the human body. They don’t know why it exists, but they do know it contains information our cells can read. What is its message, I wonder? Can the obelisk explain differences in human character?
We must wait for science to solve the puzzle…today, tomorrow, or a thousand years hence. In the meantime, if free will exists, each day we make choices about how to live…in the grocery store, within the family, at work, or on the battlefield.
Life’s challenges may cause some to lose their senses. If we value ours, we will oppose them.
Still, I prefer to see the world as overflowing with red-beared young men, their kindness as common as dirt. The same can be said about brunettes, blonds, and silver foxes of all persuasions. In this worst of times, a natural empathy endures. Where it governs, democracy survives.
