It's amazing how, in a time of general confusion and - to steal a word in the news earlier this week - pure malarkey, a simple, solid dose of decent behavior and common sense can resound like a bell. Ghazala and Khizr Khan gave that, and more, in their appearance at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday..
I didn't catch the whole shebang, all four days, but I happened to be listening Thursday. Looking up at the TV, I first thought, Oh, geez, more self-conscious diversity - good for them, but really... And then I started listening, really listening and it wasn't more than a few words in that one had to realize that something remarkable was happening. Mr. Khan's simple, angry line: "You have sacrificed nothing. and no one," is in its way as electrifying as anything in Shakespeare.
Since then, over the past few days, this couple has managed, astonishingly, to make perhaps the greatest impact of anything at either political convention, vaulting with their heartfelt (and evidently self-penned), heartbreaking, and inspiring words over everything from that cavalcade of nine-tenths forgotten faces that infested Cleveland last week to the work of several of the greatest speechgivers in the English-speaking world in Philadelphia.
Every breath they take is a living rebuke to the gimcrack appeal of Trumpism - or is Trumpery? - in all its forms, and if they never say or do another thing, they have rendered this country and all of us an incalculable service.
If you haven't read Mrs. Khan's piece in today's Washington Post, you have a homework assignment. It may make you sad, and it may make you angry, but you'll be the better for it.
Dignified and moving
ReplyDeleteThey are both amazingly eloquent
ReplyDeleteI just read his wife's essay.
Amazing family
They are true Americans.
ReplyDeleteCommon sense is so shocking these days because we see and hear very little of it.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's a shame.
I've debated saying this, but this is a situation that isn't going away.
ReplyDeleteThese two people, and their late son, are the tipping point in this election.
Without uttering a word, a woman, and a Muslim (irony is delicious), revealed the nominee for how little he truly amounts to. Donald Trump's money is the most interesting thing about him, while this mother and father's love for their child, our hero, is the most awe inspiring thing about them.
Their child is our hero - he may have spared a nation before it's all said and done.
It hardly seems possible, but they would seem to be even more remarkable than it first seemed. If anyone is looking for a good cry, I recommend this highly: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/06/us/khan-soldier-convention-iraq.html?_r=0.
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