THIRTY-SIX
"Despite his steel core, Todd was shy and quiet in demeanor, typical of Yupik men, who, unlike some others, don't feel the need to full up the air around them with words all the time. He was also incredibly well-mannered and polite to my parents, who were smitten with his work ethic and and his constant offers to help anyone who needed anything.
"He stacked firewood for Dad and drove my mom out to the mountains so she could find the perfect skiing conditions. He picked up Molly and me for practices so we wouldn't have to walk. Todd and Dad hit it off because not only could Todd fix anything, but Dad had never met anyone who had an even greater respect for Alaska and her wildlife than we did.
"My family fell in love with Todd right along with me."
Ah, the emptiness of (mere) words sometimes; the eloquence of silence; the puissance and power, power that extends even to the moving of millions of minds and the altering of the very landscape of history, yes, the efficacy of the exterior words of the lips when they dance and flow and frolic from the interior words of the heart!!!
I have a few general thoughts about words and about silence; then I have a few thoughts about the heart-touching and life-changing eloquence of America's (soon-to-be) First Couple.
Who shall dare to deny that the splendid and solitary eloquence of Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill changed history during the frightfully fateful summer and autumn days of 1940, when Britain stood alone against the viciously efficient might of the Nazi Empire??
His unconquered, unvanquished, and unconquerable spirit, as expressed in his BBC speeches, like the "we shall never surrender" and the "this was their finest hour" orations, communicated itself to his countrymen/women, and prepared the way for that interior mental and spiritual victory that will always precede and foreshadow and pave the way for exterior military and/or political triumphs.
And yet, what was the source and spring of this history-altering eloquence?? Those days of thunder and lightning in '40 had their origin in years of quiet spiritual labor and quiet acts of courage.
The young Churchill who faced unflinchingly the bullets of the enemy as a young cavalryman in the late nineteenth century; the Churchill who was taken prisoner in South Africa by the Boers; the statesman whose Cassandra-like warnings in the 30s about Germany's rearmament and Britain's unprepared state fell flat on the uncomprehending ears of his countrymen; it was this Churchill, with his decades-long spiritual and interior preparation, who at length roared forth as a veritable FOURTH LION on England's three-lion battle standard!!
When we hear with our physical ears the words, the strong, intrepid syllables, of brave men and women, we are really listening with the ears of our hearts to the brave-hearted souls of these heroes and heroines...and these stout hearts have often been formed and molded on quiet, silent battlefields of the spirit, battles and struggles that have often stretched over the course and compass of years and even decades.
Now let us consider for a moment the trite but true expression that "actions speak louder than words." A better way to express this might be that actions can BE the "words" that flow from a great heart.
Think, then, of the eloquence of young Todd Palin. Think how he "spoke" from his spirit to Sarah's family in all of the quiet, considerate actions he performed for and with them!!
At a time and age when many young people in our "elite" colleges and universities were learning the nefarious anti-art of using and abusing words for lying and deception and propaganda, this true Alaskan and American spoke to his soon-to-be in-laws and relatives in gentle, noble "words" that were as true and brave and golden as they were quiet and subtle and even silent!
Finally, let us think of our Sarah for a moment. For me, and I suspect that millions upon more millions of Americans would consent and concur with me in this, for me, Sarah's scintillating smile is worth more than 10,000 words. Her brilliant, kind eyes are worth more than 10,000 words.
Her tiniest gestures of kindness, of nobility, of humor, such as writing on her hand and humbly putting TV make-up on a Vietnam war hero, are worth more than 10,000 words. Her lingering and lingering for extra hours upon extra hours to greet her people along the '08 campaign trail is worth more than 10,000 words.
Her signing and signing and signing of thousands upon more thousands of copies of GR during the course of her '09 book tour--an exercise that almost wore out her heroic right hand--this action too is worth more to me than 10,000 words.
Sarah has indeed waxed mighty and moving in her oratorical splendor and eloquence these last couple of years, and never more so than on 3 September, 2008, the night of her deathless RNC speech. Eloquent she will be again when, as we ardently believe and hope shall come to pass, she accepts the GOP nomination for President in 2012, and then pronounces her Presidential Inaugural Address on 20 January, 2013.
However, already, already, just as she and her family listened with joy and happiness to Todd's eloquence of deeds so many years ago, already has Sarah spoken to us in a language more eloquent than Shakespeare's English, than Cicero's Latin, than Plato's Greek...
COR AD COR LOCUTUM EST,
HEART HATH SPOKEN TO HEART!!!!!
