Goodbye, Maverick

This summer has taken its toll on my consistency. I need to plan blog topics so I don’t get to Tuesday (or Saturday) and have zero ideas. But, if I did that, you’d miss out when I have something intelligent to say about current events, like today.

Today was John McCain’s funeral. We watched from beginning to end. If you’re amazed I watched it because he was a Republican and I’m a Democrat, you’ve already missed the point of this blog.

Some men are bigger than party lines. Some men are bigger than a lifetime of service to country and family. Some men are too controversial to ever be President, and yet, with their courage and desire to make the world a better place, they make the active President stronger (or look weaker, depending on the caliber of President.) John McCain inspired us to be better. I’m worried for the future of our nation if no one steps up to follow his path.

Listening to Megan McCain eulogize her father made me think about what I will have to say about my own, and how it’s going to be one of the hardest things I’ll ever do. My dad didn’t have to buy me a horse to teach me to get back on it. I think my dad would have liked John McCain, if they’d met in person.

Seeing someone on television, it’s easy to pretend he’s not real, to believe only the rhetoric. While it was easy to vilify the man running against Obama, he was still a good man. We’ve seen what happens when a truly reprehensible human being becomes President. We now look back with even sweeter nostalgia. Goodbye, Maverick. You will be missed.

We don’t have to believe every policy or belief of John McCain’s to walk his path. Instead, all we have to do is take the first step toward being better. We need to be better citizens, neighbors, human beings. It’s not just the military’s responsibility, or the senate’s responsibility, or a political candidate’s responsibility. It falls to all of us to live up to the ideals of this great nation.

Do not throw away your shot.