PAGE SIXTY

 'How will this ever be cleaned up?'

On p. 60 of GR, Sarah is continuing her account of the Exxon Valdez oil-tanker disaster that she commenced on the previous page. She says, "I remember Todd used the word 'heartbreaking' to describe what he saw as he watched the coverage. The land and sea are sacred to Native families, who seem instilled with a special connection to God's creation that can only be described as spiritual. 'How?' Todd wondered aloud. 'How will this ever be cleaned up?'"

I would like to pursue several lines of reflection on these words this morning.

First, what does it mean to say that something is "heartbreaking"? This is one of those words that we all too often take for granted, but which, in fact, deserve close scrutiny.

The heart is the organ that is responsible for the orderly circulation of the life-giving and almost divine gift of blood throughout our bodies. If the heart is literally broken, then the liquid and life-giving cycle and order of our life ceases.

In the metaphorical sense, something is most properly described as "heartbreaking" when it encompasses a destruction and breaking of an ordered circulation and cycle that is analogous to the shattering of the circulation of the blood through and by the heart.

The oil spill disrupted not only the natural order and cycle of life in Alaska, but the economic and social life of the State too, as Sarah says on the same page. Todd's choice of the word was indeed most tragically appropriate.

So too when a dear one dies unexpectedly, in an untimely fashion, it is "heartbreaking."

Behold, as a sorrowful example, the tragic death through miscarriage of Sarah's little Tad that was described on pp. 55 and 56. The natural order and transmission of new life, the natural progression and cycle of things, were savagely disrupted for our Sarah.

So, I would like to reflect briefly on a phenomenon that has been as truly "heartbreaking" as was the Exxon Valdez disaster of Good Friday, 24 March, 1989.

I consider Sarah Palin to be the HEART of the United States of America right now. It is she, more than any other, who has kept the blood of hope, the blood of joy, the blood of courage, the blood of fidelity, the blood of generosity, the blood of patriotism, the blood of noble heroism flowing strongly and surely through the veins of the body politic.

The vicious, cruel, merciless, pitiless, diabolical attempts of the savages and demons of the Left to destroy this precious lady have been "heartbreaking."

But…

By the grace of a mighty and merciful God they have not succeeded.

Their attempts have been "heartbreaking" to us who admire and love her.

But…THE HEART HAS NOT BEEN BROKEN, AND, THE LORD WILLING, IT SHALL NOT BE BROKEN…EVER!!!!!

VIVAT SARAH; VIVAT AMERICA…LONG LIVE SARAH; LONG LIVE AMERICA!!!


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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