Parents’ need to punish similar to lawmakers’ position
Opposing Trump may feel like betrayal, but Republicans need to do what is best for the nation
Itwas awarm autumn day in 1982, and I sat in a recliner adjacent to the picture windowin our living room.
Head buried in the newspaper, I did not see who ascended the front steps before the bell rang. I plopped the paper on the end table and got up to answer the door.
Standing onmy front porch was a man in his early 30s, same as me. Hewas looking directly intomy eyes, but did not immediately speak.
Next to himwas a boy, about the same age asmy second grade son, holding his father’s hand. He had big brown eyes, and his lips were trembling in a frown, no doubt the result of the swath of caked blood on the right side of his forehead and telltale smear on the shoulder of his White Sox t-shirt.
“Did you call… do youwantme to call an ambulance?” I said to theman.
“No.” He sounded calm.
“Youwant to come in?” “Better not,” he said. “I just thought you should see what your kid did when he threw a rock at my boy.”
For any parents reading this, I barely need to describe theway my stomach clinched, knotting up with feelings of compassion, anger, but also disbelief.
This man accusingmy sonwas a stranger. And blood and violence were the last things I associated withmy bookish, gentle 7-yearold.
But I heard the man out, and his storywas not implausible. The Zawackiswere new to the neighborhood, having bought the house across the alley fromours. The two boys involvedwere dawdling on theway home fromschool, , the man said, which certainly checked out.
My Mikewas aworld-class dawdler. And the other boy, also named Mike, was horsing around, tossing harmless, but annoying, pine cones.
After he finished his account, I called downthe hall toMichael and he came promptly into the living room, having likely been in earshot of our conversation. The sight of his new playmate’s bloodied countenancemoved him to tears, though hemanaged to nod mournfully when I asked him to confirm the rock-throwing.
Because there is nothing more fierce on earth than the love parents have for children, our first inclination is to defend them with ourwhole being. If a relative or a teacher or even a babysitter reports awrongdoing, andwe know in our brain they are speaking truthfully, there’s a part of us that will be defensive, indignant and sometimes even in denial.
It must have been purely accidental, I thought. Or this other kid, his pain and injury notwithstanding, must have asked for it with his annoying behavior. And his father’s holier-than-thou attitude bolsteredmy suspicion that somethingwas rotten with their stories.
But the objective truthwas that my son, whether wrongfully or carelessly, injured another little boy and must be held accountable.
It is painfully difficult for a mother and father to followtheir head instead of their heart, hold their kid to blame and take corrective, punitive action.
We feelwe’re betraying our own flesh and blood, even though we are acting in the best interest of the people whowerewronged and in the best interest of our child. Inmy son’s case, he needed to learn the difference between horsing around and inflicting physical harm.
Thiswas not an episode in which blood is thicker thanwater, or for protecting Mike because he ismy son. Ahigher human principle took precedence.
I recalled this event in our family’s history after the day of testimony byU.S. Ambassador William B. Taylor to theU.S. House of Representatives Impeachment Committee.
The longtime diplomat respected by both Democrats and Republicans is nowconsidered a star witness after he refuted PresidentTrump and declared that military aid to Ukrainewas, in fact, being held hostage until President Zelensky agreed to publicly announce an investigation ofTrump’s chief political rival, Joe Biden.
Taylor’s supporting textmessages, phone records, notes from multiple meetings, alongwith the corroborating testimony from other principals in previous weeks, have madeTaylor’s sworn statement so unassailable that a Quinnipiac poll taken after his appearance recorded a jump to 59% of Americans who now believe Trump was leveraging the hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to further his own personal interests.
Yet, thus far, only two Republican lawmakers— Sen. Mitt Romney ofUtah and Rep. Francis Rooney of Florida— have condemned the president’s actions.
Yes, it is understandable that other Republicans, particularly party leaders Lindsey Graham and MitchMcConnell, are loath to censure or impeach the president. Trump is “family,” and calling him out for high crimes feels like betrayal. The Democrats, they believe, have an arrogant attitude and, who knows, but Biden and his son might have been asking for it.
But the metaphorically bloodcaked truth of the president’s brazen lawlessness is staring us in the face, and it’s time to do what’s right, as painfully difficult as it might seem.
Those senators and representatives who fear offendingTrump supporters by calling out their leader need only remind their constituency that the president was betraying them and us all by using hundreds ofmillions of our tax dollars for military aid for his own personal benefit.
Members ofTrump’s party must nowdo the right thing in holding him accountable since this is about our constitution, about right andwrong, and our democratic principles andway of life
And just as I foundwithmy son, who grew up to be a principled adult ofwhomI’m immensely proud, the pain I felt in punishing himwas donewith love because itwas for the greater good.