SEVENTY-SIX
"This town crier would later become an "expert" on all things Palin when I ran for vice president...."
On p. 76 of GR, Sarah posits a fascinating juxtaposition of two persons who represented two very different, and even opposed, currents in her life.
One was her beautiful third daughter, Piper, who won the hearts of millions of Americans on 3 September, 2008, the date of the RNC VP acceptance speech, as she looked after and smoothed the locks of her then four- or five-month-old little brother, Trig.
The other person was an annoying busybody with a (I am ashamed to say it!) Berkeley background, who would prove to be the proverbial "thorn" in Sarah's side both during her tenure as mayor, and later during the VP campaign.
Sarah writes as follows, "Piper Indi Grace was born March 19, a Monday. Todd flies a Piper plane, but I just liked the name. "Indi" for "Independence" (though the Indy 500 is pretty cool too) and "Grace" for "God's Grace." The next day, I took her by work when I checked in on City Hall. She was a fun and accommodating kid from the start, even arriving exactly on her due date.
"I hadn't been mayor long when a certain Wasilla resident established herself as the town crier. She showed up for nearly every council meeting on Mondays and a lot of planning commission meetings on Tuesdays. A Birkenstock-and-granola Berkeley grad who wore her gray hair long and flowing and with a flower behind one ear, she always had something to say, usually about her clogged culvert.
"She demanded to come to cabinet meetings to make sure my door was literally open--to which the cabinet answered, in unison with me, not just "No," but "Hell no!" This town crier would later become an "expert" on all things Palin when I ran for vice president."
Is it not interesting that Sarah places these two people in such close textual proximity to each other? Is it mere coincidence? I rather think not.
Is it not true that the Lord, when He writes and composes the rhythms and vicissitudes of the "books" of our lives, very often juxtaposes joy and sorrow, triumph and defeat, light and darkness, laughter and tears…life and death?!?
Let us consider just a few details from Sarah's life.
In 1982 she broke her ankle, and yet helped her team win the State High-School Basketball Championship.
In 1989 she thought she was "going to die" (GR, p. 51) just two days before her "life truly began" (loc. cit.) with the birth of her first child, her son Track.
In 2002 she lost her bid for the office of Lieutenant Governor of Alaska, and yet four years later, on 7 November, 2006 (five years ago yesterday), she enjoyed the sweet triumph of winning and achieving the higher office of Governor of Alaska.
In 2008, she delivered one of the greatest speeches in American political history, her VP acceptance speech of 3 September at the RNC, but suffered horribly at the hands of BOTH political parties shortly thereafter.
She was attacked by the political machine of the Chicago thug, barack obama; she was also betrayed by Steve Schmidt and other GOP professional operatives within the McCain campaign. Then on Election Night, 2008, she suffered defeat at the hands of the Democratic obama-biden ticket, and was also barred by Republicans from speaking to the American People on that doleful night.
Yes, just two months after September, 2008, the eloquent orator at the RNC was reduced to an enforced and heartrending silence. And yet, since that woeful Night of Tears and of the "Sounds of Silence," no voice has thundered forth more clearly and mightily and eloquently than Sarah's voice has in the defense of her country.
In July, 2009 she resigned as Governor of Alaska, to protect her State and her family from the coordinated and vicious attacks of the Left. The commies (and the GOP establishment) perhaps thought they had seen the last of Sarah Palin of Alaska. HELL NO!!!
She bounced right back, got right up off the deck and led the way to the stupendous triumphs at the ballot box the following year, while also bringing joy and hope to millions of Americans with her book tours, with her campaign speeches, with her Facebook "missiles," with her beautiful, inspiring, and informative TV show "Sarah Palin's Alaska"!!
So as we sit here on this November morning in the autumntide of the Year of Grace 2011, is it too much to think and hope and pray that, just as Sarah once lost her run for Lieutenant-Governor of her State, but later became its Governor, so, though she lost her '08 run for Vice-President of the United States, she may become our POTUS? I think it is not too much to hope and pray for this!!
The Sarah Palin who wrote the words that were cited above is well aware of the ups and downs and the swings and the twists and the turns in the fortunes of individuals and of nations.
Let us stand with her and pray for her and for her family, especially in the coming weeks.
DEO VOLENTE, LACRIMAE NOSTRAE CONVERTENTUR IN GAUDIUM--God willing, our tears will be turned into joy!!!!!
