Given all that has transpired over the past several months, it is somewhat challenging to isolate on an area that might have some degree of interest. Certainly, there is the impeachment event in Washington that has captured a significant amount of time with the media outlets as well as characterizing the banter around the country’s pubs and other places were people gather. There are those who side with what has been a very tepid defense of the wayward activities of a president who seems to be able to justify anything and everything that he does whether it be right, wrong, or questionable. Conversely, there are those who believe, without the slightest of reservations, that the president has engaged in the abuse of power by his attempt to pressure the Ukrainian President. His stonewalling decision-making about the release of documents and making administrative personnel unavailable for questioning, hence the obstruction of congress.
To bolster the defense to justify the president’s actions and to undermine the articles of impeachment, two distinguished jurists, Alan Dershowitz and Kenneth Starr, were brought into the fold. It has been somewhat fascinating to listen to each of them speak with forked tongue. Going back to the impeachment of President Clinton when they both argued that an impeachable offense does not have to be the commission of an actual crime. Now, compare that with the language of today. Particularly, Dershowitz has argued that “no crime has been committed”. He justifies the obvious contradiction by stating that he had not considered other arguments defining an impeachable act. What? This noted legal scholar admitting that he failed to consider all aspects of this critical issue in times past. Certainly, there is an absence of evidence that this noted scholar is influenced by or adhering to the hallowed legal principle of precedence.
Further, do also keep in mind, that this is the same Kenneth Starr who was the president of Baylor University when they were exposed for failing to address sexual allegations from women who claimed to have been abused by some football players. In his presidential capacity, Starr ordered an investigation into the charges by a prestigious law firm, and in a scathing 13-page summary the law firm found that Baylor, under Starr’s leadership, had done little to respond to accusations of sexual assaults. Yes, this is the same Kenneth Starr, who as Special Prosecutor, vigorously and with great zeal pursued charges against President Clinton over his affair with Monica Lewinsky. Bit ironic, isn’t it.
On another note, the recent tragic death of basketball legend, Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven others in the helicopter crash over the recent weekend highlights the fragile reality of life. “In the twinkling of an eye” life can be no more. In the Book of James, it states: “Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” Indeed, those lost in the crash are gone and there is no tomorrow. Similarly, here in Alabama, the fiery tragedy at the boat dock in Scottsboro which, as of this writing, took eight lives that will not have any more tomorrows. Certainly, there is a permanency in death. It is final. There are no maybes, what ifs, or second chances. Indeed, we will all face the end of life at some point and, I believe, I’m getting closer and closer to that eventuality. In each of these tragedies, it all happened, accidently. There was not a plan to be followed or preparations to be made—it just happened. A friend falls, undoubtedly hits his head, and his life is snuffed out. No more tomorrows. Even when one lingers with a chronic illness and the end of life is inevitable, when it happens, it’s difficult because of the finality of life no more. Those who subscribe to various religious orientations can find solace in the belief that there is a tomorrow. There is a life after the earthly journey and those beliefs can provide a modicum of calm and acceptance.
Granted, there are other events that have occurred during this time and I have, no doubt, fixated on the more surreal and unfathomable. Why are we experiencing the events that are going on in Washington? Is this all simply an inevitable outcome of repeated behavior by someone who seems to believe that there are no boundaries that must be recognized and followed? Was the helicopter crash simply the fateful outcome of a bad decision to take off when visibility was so poor and all law enforcement aircraft had been grounded? Was the pre-dawn fiery inferno on the backwaters of the Tennessee River just a bad nightmarish event due to someone being careless or inattentive? Answers are not easy to come by and for those of us still waddling our way through life, we shall keep on waddling.