PAGES 46-47
"I believed—and still do—that each person has a destiny, a
reason for being. So Reagan’s sense of national purpose
resonated with me."
reason for being. So Reagan’s sense of national purpose
resonated with me."
PAGE FORTY-SIX
Sarah is speaking on p. 46 about the newly-inaugurated President Ronald Reagan:
“…[He] radiated confidence and optimism…He had a steel spine.
“I appreciated Reagan’s passion and conviction, and the way he so plainly articulated his love for our country. Like millions of others, I related to him personally—he was one of us. I liked him, and I liked the fact that he was never afraid to call it as he saw it.”
Guys, we could just pop Sarah’s name in there, couldn’t we, and change the masculine pronouns to feminine ones?!?
However, much as we were warmed and cheered and encouraged and stirred to action by Reagan’s bright spirit, and much as we are similarly lifted and exalted and revivified and animated by Sarah’s luminous heart and mind, I think that we should never forget to contemplate and reflect on those grim, unseen, battlefields of the mind and soul from whose salutary soil has sprung the fineness and fruit of the lofty hearts that have elevated and do elevate so many millions of Americans.
Every hero and heroine who has ever been born or will be born has, I believe, won and gained that shining, all-warming effulgence of spirit through, and only through, grim, dark, silent combat fought, often for many lengths of years and of toils, in the deep and hidden places of the soul—much as Gandalf vied and strove with the Balrog in the deep and hidden places of the earth (The Lord of the Rings).
It will, then, be the work of piety, of gratitude, of justice, that, while we rejoice and exult in all the beauty and hope that Sarah brings daily to us, we never forget all that she has done and suffered to win and hold aloft the bright torch she now raises up for all of America.
PAGE FORTY-SEVEN
On p. 47, after quoting President Reagan on America’s purpose in the world, to serve as “the abiding alternative to tyranny,” Sarah says, “Ideas and speeches like that inspired me. I had always subscribed to concepts like Providence and purpose, that people aren’t just random collections of molecules stumbling aimlessly through history. I believed—and still do—that each person has a destiny, a reason for being. So Reagan’s sense of national purpose resonated with me….As Reagan said, America was more than a place in the world; it was a world-changing idea…”
What a wonderful statement Sarah makes, without ever using the terms, for God and against atheistic Communism! I am reminded of her citation of Whittaker Chambers’ Witness, on pp. 106-107 of her new book, America by Heart. She cites Chambers’ famous testament about his contemplation of the intricacy of design of his little daughter’s ears. It was these reflections on DESIGN that began to move him away from Communism and towards God.
In the same way that Mr. Chambers meditated on the contours of his little girl’s ears, so I think we can observe and muse upon the equally marvelous patterns and design that are marked out in the lives of individuals and of nations by the mysteriously intertwined Hand of God and hand of human free will. What eternal images of beauty we can paint on our own souls when we allow our digits and desires to work with His!!! And what eternal images of beauty a whole people can paint on the soul and character of their nation, if they love her enough to live for, and yes even die for her loftiest and highest ideals!!
Who can contemplate America’s brave, generous history, who can contemplate Sarah’s own brave, generous life without discerning those contours and conformations of a Loving Hand that Whittaker Chambers perceived in a little lady’s ears?!?