TWENTY-SIX
"I don't remember my ten-year-old friends being especially interested in who the president was,
but to me it was a pretty big deal."
On p. 26 of Going Rogue Sarah continues the discussion of Watergate and its aftermath that she has commenced on the previous page. Then she makes the following fascinating remark:
"Looking back, it seems significant that many of my clearest childhood memories involve politics and current events. I don't remember my ten-year-old friends being especially interested in who the president was, but to me it was a pretty big deal."
Surely, in the first place, it is part of that Liberty that is one of God's greatest gifts to us, that Liberty for which Sarah and her fellow patriots are now laboring and fighting, it is part of this Liberty that, as we can and do reflect back on our past lives, so we are free to choose our future steps and actions. What we will do in the future is formed and founded, to a great extent, on our recalling of the past.
Good counsels given, good examples witnessed, good actions taken, on the one hand, that is, things to be followed and repeated, rise up as friendly specters from bygone days, exhorting us to follow and pursue similar paths of courage and of virtue.
Poor choices, on the other hand, that we or others made in the past arise in our memories as sentinels of warning, admonishing us, "Choose not this path again; you can do better!!" Liberty and Memory are closely linked!!!!
Just as the traditions of a country, what we might term its "National Memory," constitute the assurance of its corporate continuity, if they are faithfully preserved, so the interior "traditions" of an individual, his or her memories, if they are recalled and cultivated, can assure the moral continuity of that man or woman.
So, do the memories that Sarah recounts here fall under either category, that is, sequenda, "things to be followed," or vitanda, "things to be avoided"? No. I think that there is a third category of memories (besides that of things that are simply pleasurable or painful to recall, without containing any moral implications).
This third category encompasses circumstances or events that were little understood or comprehended at the time they came to pass, but whose import and implications become clearer with Time's mighty, all-revealing passage! We may call them perscrutanda, "things that must be deeply pondered/examined."
When Sarah was ten years old, she probably did not know why she was fascinated with politics in general and with the Presidency in particular.
As she grew up, she probably still did not fully know the answer to this question.
Now, however, now as she reflects and ruminates on those far-off days, the thought very likely occurs: Someone placed these interests and inclinations in me! What might His Purpose have been?
We all ardently hope that Sarah will be our next President. However, only she, in conjunction with the Lord (prayer) and her family, can make the decision to run or not to run.
However, it is just possible that her reflections back on her interests as a ten-year-old will cause her to ask, "WHY, oh WHY, did I, as a mere ten-year-old, have this persistent interest in politics, in current events, in the welfare of my country, in the Presidency?"
Let us pray constantly for her that she make the best decision in this matter (as only the Lord knows it): best for herself, best for her family, best for Alaska, best for the United States of America.
Dearest Sarah, we stand with you, whatever you decide to do. God bless you always!!!
