And My Add-Ons
Cory Booker ended his marathon speech of 25 hours and 5 minutes to a standing ovation. And amid the applause, he added a few words of thanks to people who assisted him. I use that same that same type of addendum in this essay. Here are a few words about him added to my essay, The Man and the Moment.
Booker’s closing remarks contained three foci of the summation of his speech.
The first is to emulate John Lewis’ “good trouble, necessary trouble” phrase. Essentially, neither Booker nor Lewis want Americans to kowtow to the nonsense of Donald the Dumb and sit on our hands and do nothing. Many in Washington kowtowed to Trump. A good example is Mumbering Mitch McConnell, who stood up in the Senate and decried Trump for causing the attempted coup by the mob that attacked the Capitol on January 6.
When it came to a vote of the Senate to convict Trump during the impeachment trial, McConnell, the Majority Leader of the Senate, neither voted to convict Trump nor encouraged other Republicans to follow his leadership. Senators Murkowski, Burr, Cassidy, Collins, Romney, Sasse, and Toomey were the only seven Republican Senators who voted to convict Trump. Had McConnell been a leader and voted to find him guilty, we wouldn’t face the chaos we do today.
Booker’s second point was the need to redeem the dream. “I want you to redeem the dream. Let\'s be bold in America.” We shouldn’t shirk our responsibility. Bobby Kennedy said a similar message. “Some men see things as they are and say, why; I dream things that never were and say, why not.”
If we don’t heed Booker or Kennedy, we will allow Trump to ruin not only America but the rest of the world. Omar Khayyam wrote in The Rubaiyat.
The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
Khayyam is correct about not being able to rewrite the past. We can’t, but we can write the present and tomorrow.
Booker’s final point is “This is a moral moment. It is not left or right, it is right or wrong.” We are not here to argue and fight over whether the right or left is politically correct. We are here to decide what is right or wrong. Being politically to the right doesn’t mean that your ideas or votes are right morally.
Additionally, not saying anything in a time of chaos is as inane as Trump’s babbling his nonsense.
Visit the On Seeing the Light page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Connecting the Dots page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Dreaming Dreams page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Darkest Before Dawn page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Best and Worst of Times page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Bobby Kennedy page to read more about this topic.
Visit the My Hauntings page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Living a Life Well Lived page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Gilgamesh page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Man in the Arena page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Donald the Dumb page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Stupid is as Stupid Does page to read more about this topic.
04/07/25