This past Saturday, John McCain, a Republican Senator from the state of Arizona, died in office. McCain can now finally rest easy after a long battlewith cancer. I was somewhat surprised by the rhetoric following his death; many of his political rivals spoke very highly of him. From Barack Obama, who was elected over him in the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election, to ambassadors from all over the world, McCain was being touted as a highly respected individual who stood up for what he believed in. Many of the mourners mentioned how they actually had something in common with McCain even though they had differing political views. This moment will be considered as a time where many members of Congress put their differences aside to remember the life of a man dedicated to his country. My main concern is, “Why does it take a tragedy or a death like this to bring us together?”
It seems like you can always find a time in American political history where our bipartisanship is put to the side for the sake of showing unity, including recent incidents of gun violence — particularly those involving huge number of casualties — 9/11, and even the recent death of soul music icon Aretha Franklin. It seems like it is very easy to notice the similarities between people when we want, so why do we see so few examples of this from our leaders? It seems like we can only be on the same page after a tragedy. We can only talk about gun violence when it happens on the news. We can only talk about domestic violence after it happens to one of our friends. We only realize how unfairly an employee is treated after a strike. We can only do cultural competency training after enough people have been offended. Must good things only come out of bad events?
We do have to be very careful about making quick decisions after tumultuous events. It is very easy to say the intentions now, but would we still be able to say the same thing in the future? An example of this is the War on Drugs. In theory, at the time, it was great for more people to be held accountable for the drugs they were using. However, being able to look at this decision in the future reveals many oversights. The War on Drugs contributed to the prison pipeline, ruining many families, particularly those in minority, low-income areas.
This unity we often see is a wave, and it could carry us in multiple directions. It could be seen in extreme, boisterous Fourth of July celebrations where participants often neglect the colonist tendencies of their country. It could also be found in grassroots campaigns where people take a sincere interest in the area they and their loved ones are living in. If we ever have to be unified again, and we will, let’s not let our unity be a blinded one but a sincere one.
It is definitely possible for good things to just happen without a precluding event, and it is becoming more of a necessity by the day. I believe as campus community members and citizen of the world, we should take a more proactive than reactive approach. Volunteer your time to someone in need, donate the resources you can spare and do not be afraid to ask for help when you need it.
Robert Dinkins, Jr. a Contributing Writer for the Voice, can be reached for comment RDinkins19@wooster.edu.