PAGE FIVE
On p.5 of Going Rogue Sarah is discussing her struggles against the political establishment in Alaska, including the GOP power structure. In the middle of the page, between two paragraphs of government discussion, Sarah pens this brief paragraph:
"Still in the RTL [Right-to-Life] booth, Piper said she was ready to go. She was antsy to stop by the fair's hula hoop contest, so I hurriedly shook a couple more hands and gathered Trig back from the nice lady who had asked to hold him."
The question that we may ask ourselves is, "What is this paragraph doing here?" At first glance, its placement in the midst of a discourse on matters political may seem incongruous and distracting.
But is it really??
I believe that Sarah situated these words in just this spot to convey a very subtle message. We must consider both the content and the context of the paragraph.
Here she is in the midst of talk about public matters, and she introduces....what?...her kids!!! At the very moment when she is speculating about public affairs, she expresses her close attachment to her youngest daughter and her younger son!!
Surely she is implying that the ultimate source of answers for thorny political issues lies in our fundamental duties to and ties to our families...then to our local communities...then to our States...then to our country.
To express this in another way, man's/woman's nature as a "political animal" (Aristotle) is closely bound to his/her nature as a social and familial "animal." Another way to put it is that the POTUS Sarah will, in the end, be the Mom Sarah...the Hockey Mom: mother of her own kids; mother of all the kids of America, especially those who are weakest and most vulnerable; mother of all the people of our great land...Sarah the Lion-Hearted, Mother of Her Country!!As Robin of Berkeley said so eloquently a couple or so weeks go: In what better hands could our nation be placed than in the strong, loving, fearless hands (and heart) of the mom from Wasilla?!?
We may note, further, that Sarah is not lost way up in the clouds and mist of political theory, while being detached from real life. No, she is solidly grounded in her family. She answers her own implied question with the placement of this little paragraph. What must we do, where must we turn in seeking answers to the loftiest of public questions and problems? We must stay firmly grounded in the things that really matter.
And yet, I think these observations may be extended even further.
What was it that the Lord said? Nisi efficiamini sicut parvuli, non intrabitis in regnum caelorum, "Unless ye become as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven." He also said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven."
Who are we, who are we to claim, Sarah seems to me to be saying, who are we to assert that, in those golden, bright moments at the Alaska State Fair, Piper and her hula-hoop contest, in God's eyes and in the ultimate sweep and scope of Divine Wisdom, were not more important than the seemingly weightiest and gravest of political issues?!?Has not God said that His thoughts are far loftier than our thoughts; His ways far above our ways?
The little lark singing her heart out in my garden, singing, singing the morning glories of her Creator....
The little kitten or puppy frolicking in a smiling spring sun, playing, playing in the sight of the All-Highest...
The little girl, laboring, laboring on her lips to utter, to utter, to utter that first word, "mommy"...
The little boy, straining, pushing, balancing and taking that first step, the first step of a lifetime of thousands upon countless thousands of steps...
Piper Palin winning a hula-hoop contest on a glorious majesty of a late summer's day in the Land of Northern Dreams...
Who are we to say how precious and weighty and mighty these things, tiny and minuscule in our eyes, may be in the Eyes of Eternity?!?
Our Sarah knows all this; the Lord, from His Throne of Eternal Wisdom, has blessed, blesses, will bless her...always!
