Awaiting the Pope's arrival. West Lawn of the Capitol, September 24, 2015.
It was Thursday, and I was standing with my better half, Beth, on the West Lawn of the Capitol Building awaiting Pope Francis's arrival, September 24, 2015. A few hazy clouds hung together in long swaths across the sky, the sun silhouetting the building's scaffolded dome. About five hours prior, the ticketed crowd had begun to gather together across the front of the Capitol in eager anticipation of hearing what Pope Francis had to say to the country's leaders. Songs and cheers broke out intermittently and variously, and from time to time groups of people raised their arms high creating successive "waves" in an overflow of enthusiasm. Up front, enormous televisions called "jumbotrons" had been erected overnight, and as we all waited patiently cameras projected images from inside the Capitol: Speaker Boehner in his office; men and women striding across Statuary Hall; politicians gathering on the floor of Congress.
Beth had taken a seat on the grass and I was looking down at her as we talked. Just then our conversation was interrupted by applause beginning to erupt across the lawn and I turned to the jumbotron fully expecting to see the Pope emerge into view. What I saw projected there instead seemed (at least to me) somewhat astounding. The growing applause moved across the lawn reaching now to where I stood and I enthusiastically joined in. On the screen was a white-haired man leaning over a table on the congressional floor. I recognized that affable gentleman! Senator Bernie Sanders present and accounted for!
No one else elicited applause except, of course, the Pope himself. It became evident to me then, that there really is a movement afoot, a movement to take our country back from moneyed interests, a movement to eject the current oligarchy and bring democracy back to that grand house on whose lawn we stood applauding candidate Sanders.
The camera panned away. Another image; another scene. The applause died down. Attention was again directed to the Pope's immanent arrival and address. But in my mind I could not stop thinking: This is really happening. People are responding to Sanders and his people-centered message.
The moment passed; the movement continues growing. Pope Francis delivered a poignant address; the oligarchs keep grumbling. Do they hear, I wonder, the people pounding on their doors?