PAGE FIFTY

The early years
 
On p.50 Sarah talks about the early days of her marriage to Todd. She writes, “Todd applied for a full-time job with BP working in the North Slope oil fields. We hoped he'd land the kind of Slope job so many young Alaskans dream of so he could work a schedule that would allow him to enjoy as many of our outdoor passions as possible while making a good living.

"While he waited, he worked [she mentions above his job as a baggage handler for an airline and other work]. I remember him working so hard that he dropped to about 150 pounds from handling the bags in the belly of the plane. (Surely it couldn't have been my newlywed cooking skills that contributed to that.)”

Behold in these seemingly simple words a path of wisdom that we too can follow while we wait for Sarah to announce her candidacy for the Presidency of the United States of America.

“While he waited, he worked.” Todd did not yet hold his ideal job, but he labored nevertheless at the work he had at the moment. It was not his hoped-for employment. It was hard and humble labor; but it was honest work that brought them clean, honorable remuneration.

We too may not yet be able to fight formally for Sarah, official candidate for the highest office in the land. Nevertheless, there is so much that we can do in the interim, while we wait in patient hope. Let us not allow one day to pass without accomplishing something for her and for our country.

It may be something outward and obvious, such as writing a scintillating article, posting an inspiring blog message, or speaking before and rallying a fiery group of Sarah supporters. Or it may be something quiet and hidden, but very real and potent and mighty in the eyes of the All-Highest: A prayer quickly uttered for her and for her family; a sacrifice (Lenten or otherwise) made out of all the fullness and depths of our hearts for her safety and succor; a temptation resisted in order to place a shield and buckler over her and all that she (and we) hold dear and precious.

These acts, I believe, are the more powerful and efficacious and beautiful in the sight of Our Heavenly Father the more they are hidden and humble and buried in the bosom of a good and clean conscience.

It is my firm belief that these little actions, though they may consume but a gossamer instant of time in their execution, have, on the spiritual plane, more permanency and staying power than the Great Pyramid of Egypt possesses in the universe of all things visible!

AND acts of this kind are our secret weapon. The Left can act in outward ways...and they sure do!! Witness their current whirlwind of thuggish activity directed against Governor Scott Walker and the legislators and people of Wisconsin...“community organizing” run amok!!

However, I do not think these people possess any comprehension of the power and efficacy of the tiniest and most obscure acts, when these acts are performed out of Love!!! This is our great secret, and the reason we will win this war.

Let us also take brief notice of the remark that Sarah slips in at the end of the quoted passage, “Surely it couldn't have been my newlywed cooking skills that contributed to that.”

It is characteristic of Sarah, I believe, in GR to insert little bits of humor in unexpected places. We saw this sort of thing, e.g., on p.18 with the singing and the washing of dishes, and on p.20 with the chocolate bar. I think we can learn from her that, amidst all the turbulence and trouble of these times, it helps to “season the season” with a pinch and touch of laughter sometimes!!

“Surely it couldn't have been my newlywed cooking skills that contributed to that.”

Can you not almost SEE Sarah's inimitable wink jumping up out of the page and brightening our spirits as she writes this!?!

I sure can!!!


Read It For Yourself:

Read It For Yourself:

Other Great Sarah Books:

Other Great Sarah Books:

Palin Essentials:

Palin Essentials:

Credits:

All sidebar photos are from Wikimedia. I have tried to post all royalty-free images or to get permission, but in a few cases I could not locate the original source of a photograph or find a way to ask permission.


Contact info: bbrianus@gmail.com.

Other Great Going Rogue Reviews:

Jedediah Bila:

"Palin’s inviting first-person narration that is sometimes whimsical, often confident, and always patriotic...Going Rogue is truly one of those reads in which you put the book down after your eyes graze the final lines and you somehow feel like the writer is someone you’ve known all your life."
John Ziegler:

"I was simply blown away by Going Rogue on almost every level. For many reasons, this is by far the best book and greatest literary achievement by a political figure in my lifetime..."
Brigadier General Anthony J. Tata:
"Her book washes away all doubts that any reader might have had about her readiness to be president. She comes across as exceptionally bright, dedicated, and passionate about public service. Her moral compass is strong, pointing true North in this case. And she has a wicked sense of humor."
Don Surber:
"Conservatives know why Palin is still standing — and standing taller today than those who tried to bring her down. What does not kill you makes you stronger. Thank you, Tina Fey."

Sarah Palin is Coming to Town

Review by Stanley Fish:

When I walked into the Strand Bookstore in Manhattan last week, I headed straight for the bright young thing who wore an “Ask Me” button, and asked her to point me to the section of the store where I might find Sarah Palin’s memoir, “Going Rogue: An American Life.” She looked at me as if I had requested a copy of “Mein Kampf” signed in blood by the author....

A few days later...I had begun reading Palin’s book, and while I wouldn’t count myself a fan in the sense of being a supporter, I found it compelling and very well done....

First, the art. The book has an architectonic structure that is built around a single moment, the moment when Palin receives a call from John McCain inviting her to be the vice-presidential candidate of the Republican party. When we first hear about the call it is as much a surprise to us as it was (at least as reported) to her, because for six pages she has been recounting a wonderful family outing at the Alaska State Fair. When her phone rings, she hopes it might be a call from her son Track, a soldier soon to deploy to Iraq, but “it was Senator John McCain asking if I wanted to help him change history.”

And that’s the last we hear of it for 200 pages. In between we hear a lot about Wasilla, high school, basketball, college, marriage, children, Down syndrome, Alaska politics, the environment, a daughter’s pregnancy. The re-entry of John McCain into the narrative on page 208 introduces Palin’s account of the presidential campaign and its aftermath, especially her decision to resign the governorship before the end of her term....

Paradoxically, the effect of the neatly spaced references to the call is to de-emphasize it as a dramatic moment. It is presented not as a climax, but as an interruption of matters more central to Palin’s abiding concerns — her family, Alaska’s prosperity, energy policy. (She loves to rehearse the kind of wonkish details we associate with Hillary Clinton, whom she admires.)

Indeed, it is a feature of this narrative that events we might have expected to be foregrounded are elided or passed over. Palin introduced herself to the nation with a powerful, electrifying speech accepting McCain’s invitation to join the ticket. It gets half a sentence (“I gave my speech”)....

The only event that receives an extended discussion is her resignation. It is important to her because as an act it reflects on her integrity, and she has to be sure (as she eventually was) that she was doing it for the right reasons.

Resigning was a moral act for which she was responsible. The vice-presidential candidacy just happened to her; her account of it reads like an extended “what-I-did-on-my summer-and fall-vacation” essay.

For many politicians, family life is sandwiched in between long hours in public service. Palin wants us to know that for her it is the reverse. Political success is an accident that says nothing about you. Success as a wife, mother and citizen says everything...

I find the voice undeniably authentic...It is the voice of small-town America, with its folk wisdom, regional pride, common sense, distrust of rhetoric (itself a rhetorical trope), love of country and instinctive (not doctrinal) piety.

It says, here are some of the great things that have happened to me, but they are not what makes my life great and American. (“An American life is an extraordinary life.”) It says, don’t you agree with me that family, freedom and the beauties of nature are what sustain us?

And it also says, vote for me next time. For it is the voice of a politician, of the little girl who thought she could fly, tried it, scraped her knees, dusted herself off and “kept walking.”

In the end, perseverance, the ability to absorb defeat without falling into defeatism, is the key to Palin’s character. It’s what makes her run in both senses of the word and it is no accident that the physical act of running is throughout the book the metaphor for joy and real life. Her handlers in the McCain campaign wouldn’t let her run (a mistake, I think, even at the level of photo-op), no doubt because they feared another opportunity to go “off script,” to “go rogue.”

But run she does (and falls, but so what?), and when it is all over and she has lost the vice presidency and resigned the governorship, she goes on a long run and rehearses in her mind the eventful year she has chronicled. And as she runs, she achieves equilibrium and hope: “We’ve been through amazing days, and really, there wasn’t one thing to complain about. I feel such freedom, such hope, such thankfulness for our country, a place where nothing is hopeless.”

The message is clear. America can’t be stopped. I can’t be stopped. I’ve stumbled and fallen, but I always get up and run again. Her political opponents, especially those who dismissed Ronald Reagan before he was elected, should take note. Wherever you are, you better watch out. Sarah Palin is coming to town.

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