Pastor Obama – Bringing Unity to a Divided Nation
“Last Wednesday in Tucson Pastor Obama ministered to his flock to begin the nation’s healing process. His simple request was to make our political discourse worthy of our youngest citizens, like Christina Taylor Green. The nine year old came to learn about government from Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, obviously a role model for her.
Here in front today as I speak are our school children learning about government. May our political discourse and debate in Long Island and the Hamptons be worthy of their optimism and hope for the future.”
At this point Quogue Village Police Chief Robert B. Coughlan collapsed behind me. Luckily the Emergency Response authorities were present and the meeting ended suddenly in the very human scene of caring for others. I checked on the condition of Chief Coughlan and our town supervisors assures us all is well.
The Southamton Press reported that he was “taken to Southampton Hospital from the event by Southampton Village Volunteer Ambulance [where he] was reported to be in stable condition following the event, …[and] would most likely return to work on Monday.
The chief, who the mayor believes is in his late 50s, was seen clutching a flagpole to hold himself up during the outdoor ceremony, according to Mr. Sartorius. Temperatures were in the low 20s at the time, with an even lower windchill factor.
Chief Coughlan then collapsed. His face was ashen and he was unresponsive, the mayor said.
“He’s fine. He’s talking. He’s coherent. He has the flu,” Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst said following the event. “We think he’s going to be just fine, OK?”
I had planned to comment on the fact that Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday falls exactly one week after the savage shootings in Tucson. I wondered why more attention had not been shown to that fact by President Obama and others who were commenting on the national level.
But what I intended to say can wait until tomorrow’s blog. Suffith it to say that winter has come to the Hamptons. Back to back blizzards have driven even the foxes out of the deep woods to forage for scraps near our compost. Early sunsets make the huge pale yellow sun look like heavens spotlight bouncing off the darkening snow drifts.
Even in the bitter cold, however, our little community came together to celebrate civility in politics, peace in politics, and that is a good thing. All notches on the spectrum were present but one note still reminds me of how far we have to go. I was late getting to the meeting and did not know, when I was invited to speak, that no representative from the non-office holding community had addressed the assembly. Lou Ware our NAACP Branch President, Rev. Marvin Dozier, Rector Mike Smith from the Shinnecock Nation, and many many more community activists were present and could have been asked to say a few words of unity. Martin Luther King spent a lot of time talking to children. Our little school children need these role models to be held up continually.
Peace in Politics, amen!
Bob Zellner, January 15, 2011
No comments:
Post a Comment