Saturday. Sofa. Coffee.
I've got a great movie idea to pitch. The main character has held a position of national significance for years. However, his position was secondary for decades, allowing him to, for the most part, stay out of the limelight.
Suddenly, due to the abdication of power by those ahead of him in line to seat of power, he is no longer the heir to the power, he holds the power. He is thrust into leadership, and consequently into the public eye.
The problem is, he suffers from a disorder that people don't talk about, that people don't understand. His opponents question his stability. His allies defend him yet insist that he must get over it and do better. The public doesn't know what to think.
When the microphones appear and the cameras turn on . . .
He weeps.
"The King Weeps". Making room on the mantle for the little gold statue. Not really. I don't feel like dusting.
(The above part of this post is a clever analogy based on the Academy Award Nominated Movie "The King's Speech." If you have not yet seen the movie or read of its plot I apologize, for the above will not make sense nor seem so very clever. If you have not seen the movie, you should. It will make you cry.)
So John Boehner cries. I thought this was another one of those things that get exaggerated that the politicos, pundits and public enjoy talking about, but, actually, it is true. He has done it for quite a while, apparently. Only now he is sitting at the front of the room facing everybody.
That is a difficult position. It is like singing in a church choir when you have a cold, especially if the anthem is a particularly moving piece of music. The tears and snot (sorry, I just couldn't think of a more appropriate word) begin to flow. There is a spectrum of available remedies, assuming you decide to stay and stick it out. My first reaction when I feel the onset is to ignore it. The problem is that when one is in the spotlight of choir lights, tears and snot begin to glisten as they make little trails down your face. If it is really bad it might drip onto the sheet music you are holding, which makes the pages stick together the next time it is used which is frowned upon by the next user of the music.
And tears can affect your vision, making the words and notes of the music hard to see, so sometimes it is necessary to free one hand and wipe your face. I never have a Kleenex or handkerchief at such times so I have to use my hand, which creates other problems. One dare not use the sleeve of the choir robe for such clean-up. That would probably be grounds for dismissal from the choir. And if you know anything about church choirs, it takes a lot to get dismissed.
But the flow of fluids is a result, not just of a virus, but of the emotion of the music, an emotion that is real, that comes from deep within the soul somewhere. Most of the time I do not understand it. That's one of the mysteries of music. A language spoken so deeply in the soul that we don't know where it comes from nor have words to express it. But it is real. Probably more real than the audible words we speak or sing.
So, it doesn't bother me that John Boehner cries. He is dealing with "big things". It gives me hope that it affects him so deeply.
If he wants lessons on not crying, I can think of many in Congress who seem to have no feelings and would be willing to help, but in a spirit of a more civil discourse I won't suggest who.
But I think brown suits and a box of Kleenex would serve him better.
.
I always try to look like I'm not crying by pretending to scratch my eye. I don't think anyone is fooled, especially since it usually just gets worse until the floodgates open.
ReplyDeleteThe most fun thing to do in church is try and guess who is sniffling and wiping their eyes because they're crying, and who is doing it because they're sick.
...You know, or listen to the sermon.