The Flag in My Heart

Like nearly all Americans I am just now recovering from grieving the loss of beloved President Gerald Ford. For me the news had a doubly harsh sting. First came the shock of discovering that Ford hadn't already been dead for years, and then came the shock that Gerald Ford was no longer with us. It was like riding a cruel and rickety roller coaster. A roller coaster that left me feeling emotionally whiplashed by grief. My next thought was for the nation. Could the United States survive the loss of former President Gerald Ford or would the void be too much to bear for our divided and struggling democracy? Time will tell if we can ever fully recover with such a vast void in our core.
The loss is stunning because he was taken from us while still in the prime of his late golden years. He was only 93 years-old when he was taken from us and probably just hitting his political stride. Maybe God simply needed the man's guidance more than we mortals. After all, this man was the only unelected President we have ever had. He was a man credited with having wisdom beyond his generation. Aside from being most famous for accidentally falling down stairs on television and in public on a few occasions he is also remembered for granting a Presidential pardon for Richard Nixon's blatant criminal involvement in the Watergate scandal. Here was a man with the foresight and courage to let his buddy who got him the Vice President gig get off the hook for extreme criminal misconduct and blatantly obstructing justice. How could the nation have ever healed if Nixon had received proper punishment for violating the office of the President?
Now while it is true that I was just a baby when Ford was President and he had no impact on my life in any meaningful way, I still deeply wish that I had been old enough to vote back then so that I too could been there to play my part and have the chance to not vote him into The Oval Office.

I think closing the Post Office and letting all government employees have another day off after the day they got hung over for New Years is a noble and well deserved honor for a man of Ford stature. Today, under the heavy burden of sorrow, the flag in my heart was hanging at half-mast.