I haven't been writing much about the state of things in the United States these past months. From where I stand, there simply has been almost nothing really good to say. At least not about U.S. politics.
In politics there is little shining data to work with now: Nothing but more name calling of personal enemies for the 19th month in a row.
More bragging about nothing to brag about — like the dissolution of regulations designed to protect the planet of the future from the scars of advancing climate change.
More disdain for immigrant families begging for entry on our borders by families already broken by the poverty or violence of the countries they'd left.
More indictments of government officials who are swamping the political swamp with their own bodies.
And, of course, more bombast. More threats of force. More self-adulation and total disregard for either political traditions or national ideals like civil rights, a free press, and the rule of law.
Until the funeral …
On that day the country buried John McCain, Vietnam War vet, naval pilot, admiral, U.S. senator, and presidential nominee. On that day, in the National Cathedral in Washington, packed from one end of the middle aisle to the other, there — like daffodils that suddenly break out of the frozen earth in early spring — the America we'd all been trained to love and protect rose again for all to see.
Read the full story at National Catholic Reporter.
