What a week
by digby
As a nation, out of this terrible tragedy, God has visited grace upon us, for he has allowed us to see where we’ve been blind. He has given us the chance, where we’ve been lost, to find our best selves. We may not have earned it, this grace, with our rancor and complacency, and short-sightedness and fear of each other — but we got it all the same. He gave it to us anyway. He’s once more given us grace. But it is up to us now to make the most of it, to receive it with gratitude, and to prove ourselves worthy of this gift.
It’s been a helluva a week. Epic tragedy, epic evil and epic triumph condensed into a very short period of time. It’s emotionally exhausting but exhilarating too.
We’re still horrified by the massacre in Charleston. I don’t think we ever will not be. The funeral of Reverend Pinckney was so poignant and sad although I think the people of that community and the president’s eloquence took a little bit of the pain away for a little while, if such is even possible. The reaction of so many, after so many years, to the hideous provocation of that awful flag was uplifting. It’s not everything but it’s a long overdue step along that long road leading to racial justice in America.
This country sentenced a young man to death too, for another heinous act of terrorism. Nobody feels sorry for him. But I think we should feel sorry for ourselves. Capital punishment is an arbitrary act of revenge. As a society we could stand to have a little of that grace President Obama was talking about and end that barbaric practice.
Yesterday, a majority of the Supreme Court decided not to submit to hackish right wing sophistry, even if they really would have liked to. This is not only a win for the people who were on the verge of losing their ability to get needed medical care, it’s a win for reason itself.
And the affirmation today of the basic human right of people to marry someone they love is an amazing step forward for our misbegotten species. It is a privilege to be alive to witness it.
So, I’m having a drink on this Friday night to toast all the victims, all the survivors, all the people who will survive and all the people who will thrive after all this.
L’chayim.
.