(Cross-posted at My Left Wing, ePluribus Media and my blog)As I watched Ned Lamont debate Joe Liebermann last night, I was struck by many things. One of the things I liked best about Lamont, though, was his efforts to continually come back to and articulate a sense of Democratic values. I think that's a crucial point that Democrats have to make during this mid-term cycle, and then they have to stand by their rhetoric and fight for the values they espouse.
I was pretty interested, then, to see Delaware Dem's diary Dirty Liberal Words. Many of you read it and added you $.02 to Delaware Dem's cadre of words that so often seem to be used against us, but which really, at the end of the day, describe the values we hold and should be promoting every chance we get, both individually and politically.
I had only recently returned home after running a few errands following the debate. An interesting thing happened to me when I was out that highlighted the entire question of our values and what we think is important from both a personal perspective and a political one.
Please follow me over the fold.
A word I seem to keep using repeatedly in my own diaries and comments of late is the word "busy". No, that's not a value. It's a context. I seem to cram more necessary tasks into every available minute of my day. So with that as a baseline, I headed out after the debate to pick up a few things for myself and to pick up dinner for my husband (I don't cook).
He had ordered from The Outback. Many of the more decent suburban area restaurants available to me now offer curbside pickup, where you pull into a specially designated parking space and wait for the server to bring your food to you. As I waited in my specially designated space at The Outback, I saw an old man coming out of the restaurant's door. He had that kind of walk that was labored, and he carried a single-hand walker (the kind that has four legs which sprout at the bottom of a cane). As he came through the door, for no reason I could discern, he fell.
This all happened quickly. As I was registering that he had fallen and as I saw the confusion on his face, I was making to get out the car and go to him. But the curbside server beat me to it. He was immediately down on his knees in front of the man, quietly telling him to remain still and asking if he was hurt. The old man was clearly still coming to grips with what had happened and didn't answer for a few seconds. He looked up into the face of the server with slight confusion on his face. The server talked to him some more, in what I can only characterize as a soothing fashion. When the server had elicited from the man that he thought he was uninjured, he (the server) told the man to stay where he was, that he would pick him up.
And pick him up he did. Carefully, but firmly. There was not a hint of discomfort or awkwardness about that server as he righted the man back to a standing position.
The server then quietly inquired further as to whether the man was all right, whether he remained uninjured. When the responses he received were positive, he walked with the man to his car. As I watched them, their backs to me at this point, I saw that the server maintained a respectful but protective distance from the man. He lightly kept his right hand in contact with the small of the man's back, clearly mindful of the fall the man had taken and concerned for him. When they got to the man's car, the server ensured that the man got into it comfortably and safely.
It's a pity sometimes that words can't convey all of the nuances of an event or an experience. I'll have to be satisfied with telling each of you that the server was so incredibly respectful and carful of the fallen man's dignity. It was evident in his every move, in the tone of his voice, and in the care and concern he provided through his thoughtful actions.
I was impressed and touched. I tipped that server HEAVY when he brought out my order and I told him why. And then I headed home.
It was after this that I read Delaware Dem's diary and went immediately in search of "compassion" as a Dirty Liberal Word. I had just born witness to common, everyday compassion and it was foremost in my mind. I was gratified to see that both Gabriele Droz and Coldblue Steel had already added it in the comments. I told my story there also.
Later last night, I was watching Anderson Cooper 360. Ever since Hurricane Katrina, I've been a fan of Cooper's. He just won't let it go, and thank goodness for that. He keeps returning to New Orleans and other areas in the devastated Gulf coast. He highlights what progress has been made, but he is unabashed in showing the glaring human need and acts of everyday heroism that occur as we slowly forget. One of the stories he had highlighted on Wednesday night was about Pontchartrain Humane Society.
From the transcript:
COOPER: Well, the victims here in New Orleans and in the Gulf Coast weren't just humans, of course. There were also thousands of abandoned animals, helpless and in desperate need for food and water. There's a man in Mississippi who hasn't forgotten them. He's provided so much to him, even his home.
--begin videotape--
TUCHMAN: His yard is a foster home for dozens of abandoned pets. Sam lives in Pearlington, Mississippi, where the eye of Hurricane Katrina came ashore. He rode out the storm in his home because he didn't want to abandon the animals that are cared for by an organization he founded called the Pontchartrain Humane Society.
And now there are more pets here. Abandoned by others during Katrina. Sam and his wife live in a FEMA trailer because his house is uninhabitable for people. Some pets remain inside. Samson the Rottweiler gets a bathroom.
--snip--
TUCHMAN: All the pets that were with him survived. But Sam still can't get over the dead, abandoned pets he has seen.
BAILEY: You wouldn't leave your kid hanging on a tree branch.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Sam's organization has volunteers, but the work takes hours of his day and there is no pay.
(On camera): Sam Bailey doesn't especially want to stay here in Pearlington or in Mississippi, for that matter. But he's not about to leave because he doesn't want to abandon his pets.
Last night Cooper told us that, as a result of the piece airing on his show the previous night, the Pontchartrain Humane Society's website had received over 11,000 hits. Inquiries were made to adopt some of the animals featured on the website. Donations poured in.
Bailey's compassion for those animals is pure human gold.
And finally, this morning I had the pleasure of reading kid oakland's excellent essay an encounter on alcatraz. If you've missed it, correct your error now and go read it. The diary's closing is worth repeating here, though:
There's no point to this story really. And that is the point, in a way. That's life. That's the nature of community. That's how soon we forget. That's how little we ever say 'thanks' to those who've come before us, who've paved our way. We're born fragile and helpless...and we grow old to be frail and helpless. Nobody holds an awards banquet for us at the end of our days. We're lucky when we get a "thanks." And, though we pretend otherwise, we are all one step away from an accident or illness that might change our lives. And in the face of these very few certainties...old age, frailty, death...most of us just do like the rest of the world: we drive on by.
A blind woman made me see that. D reminded me of that fact.
On some small level, then, I hope that telling you her story speaks to you, too.
It does speak to me - kid oakland's compassion for the woman in his essay speaks to me. That server's treatment of the fallen old man speaks to me. Sam Bailey's care for those animals in the Katrina-ravaged gulf speaks to me. The small kindnesses I witness every day speak to me.
Compassion is a core Democratic value. Compassion for the Iraqis, compassion for a pregnant unwed mother, compassion for people who are having to choose between going to the doctor and paying their electric bill, compassion for those who have lost their job, and even compassion for those with whom we vehemently disagree - the list goes on. It's a word and a value that shines a light on hope, that unites us with each other, and provides a bridge - the right kind of bridge - to many with whom we disagree politically.
The worst offenders on the other side politically may claim the word - but we own the actions. Let's demonstrate this particular value every chance we get.