A View from Section 5
Just as surely as “politics spoils a party,” talking politics spoils a medical office visit. The last few years during the Trump-Biden-Trump era when things have been particularly contentious, I’ve done my best to divert any conversation with patients away from politics. It’s always been interesting how long-time patients that I know well and love just assume that I think exactly like they do. It’s best just to shake my head, smile, and change the subject. I worry that our civil discourse is no longer very civil. Like many of you, regardless of political leanings, it often makes me wonder how our country can survive the growing rift.
But there was this one night last fall that, at least for the moment, set me right. It was close to a perfect night with my son and granddaughters at the Texas – Georgia football game. It was in the 70s with a little breeze blowing in at dusk, finally seeming a little like fall. The crowd was loud, and excitement was reaching a fevered pitch when the national anthem started. Suddenly, 100,000 people had their hands or hats on their hearts and sang together. It’s always been an emotional moment at UT games for me ̶ sometimes I even tear up a little, but that night, it was much more ‒ what some theologians might call a unitive experience, an intense sense of connection that defies description. With perfect timing, as we sang the last few lines, two B-1 bombers flew over the stadium, incredibly low, loud and powerful, blazing off to the south silhouetted by the fading blue sky and pink clouds of the sunset, their afterburners blasting fire with a furious roar punctuating the moment. It was just such an incredible experience, all those people united in a common expression of patriotism. In that moment, as Americans, we were at our best.
The game took place in that particularly contentious election season, sometimes seemingly defined by strange and potent disrespect and division. But somewhere underneath, there is much more good than bad around us, and in that moment, shoulder to shoulder with all those strangers, those differences faded, and the divine spark, the essence of transcendent humanity present in us all, seemed possible again. It was a sense of what author Gregory Boyle calls our “unshakeable goodness,” the notion that within us all there is a diamond, “often covered with dust,” but it is there, nonetheless. Our sacred calling and hope is to look for that in everyone and no matter how hard it seems at times, to not give up on each other.
Filling out a ballot is usually anything but a mystical experience but it is a gift not enjoyed in much of the world. One of the great practices of personal wellness and faith is gratitude ‒ to be aware of the things that we have been given, and to acknowledge that they are just that‒ gifts. Fleeting though many of those gifts are, some endure. Hopefully, something that endures is our common love of this country, regardless of who we vote for, and the opportunities and freedoms that we are blessed with. When we stand and sing our national anthem before a ball game it’s not just a meaningless ritual. It is a conscious call to put our hand over our hearts, and in that moment, to be as one.
Editor’s note: Brian Sayers is a rheumatologist in Austin who enjoys weekends near La Grange.