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Madame Alexander…damn…I mean, Madam Secretary

I’ve recently become addicted to the CBS TV series “Madam Secretary” with Téa Leoni and Tim Daly.

It’s another insider-White House series, this time with Téa as the unconventional Secretary of State called to duty when the man previously holding that position goes down in a plane accident (well, no accident, but you have to watch for details about that…). She’s a former CIA operative whose then-boss is now, well, President (played by Keith Carradine).

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Téa Leoni, Tim Daly. Photos courtesy CBS-TV.

Husband Tim Daly is a world-reknowned religious and ethics scholar, and the two get plenty of play in international intrigue. Some of it’s a bit too intense for my liking — modern audiences seem to crave more of something I find distasteful — but a lot of it is very real human emotion, played with a good dollop of humor. You get the feeling the Secretary of State is just one of us. Until you look at her day.

(If you’re wondering about the title to my piece, I had to get it out front: I keep slipping up and calling the show “Madam[e] Alexander” like the damn dolls. Okay, lovely dolls, but they have nothing to do with this show in any way, shape or form. I’m hoping to break myself of this habit by placing it right out there.)

An ordinary day for Secretary of State….like the first episode of Season Two, which just finished.  (The season, that is. The first episode aired months ago.) Somehow, despite the fact that in a bizarre turn of events Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord has become acting President for a brief time, you relate to her. At least I did. In part, because, you see, poor Bess was being called upon to perform modified lyrics to a Billy Joel song at a state dinner. Yes, SING. Like me, she’s tone deaf. Unlike me, her chief of staff is (Broadway legend) Bebe Neuwirth, so she was saved.

The show is generally much heavier than that, so don’t look for anything so lightweight on a weekly basis.

bigstock--121875197 [Converted a]But here, at last, is my point. Secretary of State is a serious position. So is White House Chief of Staff.  There are plenty more such jobs, with consequences both glorious and catastrophic. And while there is no one person capable of making the perfect decision every single time for any given role, there are those far more qualified than others, more likely to consistently make strong decisions. Like any job, there is value in having experience, connections and wisdom from previous choices.

Some of those jobs, such as Chief of Staff, are appointed, and others, such as Secretary of State, are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The meaning of the process of “advise and consent” that the Senate takes on in the confirmation process varies from scholar to scholar, but in practical terms it amounts to this: the President has the greater power in choosing who will fill those positions.

And the people he or she chooses shape this country in ways big and small, change lives and bring opportunity — or take it — from others who can make a difference.

In other words, our choice of President is critical.

It’s not a favorite year for many for presidential candidates. Lately I’ve been hearing words that strike greater fear in me than anything else, “I think I’ll just stay home on Election Day.”

vote-election-day-vector-illustration_GyWJDRd_ [Converted]Don’t let this election be decided by those who don’t — or won’t — vote. If you stay home, you’re part of a movement guaranteeing the wrong man will win. It’s no longer the same party politics.

Watch Madam Secretary for a taste of the decisions our leaders will have to make. Dramatized? No doubt. Real? In enough ways that matter, yes, it is.

 

Image Credits: (Scenes from “Madam Secretary”): CBS-TV (fair use); (Building) retroclipart — Bigstock; (Vote Sign) GraphicStock.com

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Reflections

Time to Clean House!

Literally. I mean that literally. Rather than sitting here writing, I should be picking up, tossing out, throwing in the laundry…you get the idea. I was house sitting for six weeks, and came home only periodically. When I did, it was generally to dump something into one room or the other, and leave.

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Me and Walter

I didn’t plan to do things that way. But first my computer crashed, and all that equipment is sitting in a pile in the corner, along with the box the new laptop came in (and the DVD player box…it’s a slim laptop with no DVD playing capabilities…grrrr). Then I learned Hancock Fabrics is going out of business, so I bought a few yards of fabric at a great discount, and that’s sitting in a couple of bags on top of the sewing machine table. Not to mention I haven’t completely unpacked from house sitting.

But this has been a good thing. I finally was able to get my tooth fixed properly, and when my computer crashed I could afford a new laptop. Now I’ve got a small savings account toward all the things I need to get in the near future and any kitty-cat emergencies. It’s a lot easier to save when you’ve got some savings started.

Life is good right now. Yes, there are some question marks. But I have my friends, my cats and hope, and that’s enough.

 

 

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Send a Note, Plant a Seed

A couple of years ago I volunteered to manage our church’s Facebook page.

There were two things I said I wouldn’t be responsible for: all of the pictures, all of the time (I simply can’t be everywhere), and responding to the messages. That, I felt, should be church leadership. I still feel that way, but our church is small, and our priest is on sabbatical. So I’m handling the messages as best I can, which usually means referring them to someone else.

bigstock--127361372 [Converted] smLast Sunday we got several messages asking if our church (which, although small, is very active in the community) was going to hold a vigil for the victims in Orlando. I sent out an e-mail to any and all I thought could help, and the man who’ll be preaching this Sunday responded. His sermon won’t be addressing this tragedy, he told me, and it’s important to him the church does, in whatever way we can.

I have to admit here the shootings didn’t have the same personal impact on me they’ve had on so many: the LGBT community; Orlando citizens, past and present; the Latino community; and others, such as minorities, who in one way or the other have felt disenfranchised during much of their life. But I felt compelled to pursue this, and I’m glad I did.

We agreed the local Interfaith Alliance would be a good next contact. We’re members, in fact our priest helped found the organization, and the alliance is always looking for ways to bring the community together.

Next thing I know Rabbi Rob has pulled together a community-wide vigil, held in front of the museum. I alerted the media, and they responded generously. Rob, Issa, Diego and the others did a remarkable job in a short amount of time.

Diego, a self-described “queer Latino,” is an advocate for the LGBT community at our local rape crisis center. He spoke eloquently about growing up “queer” in El Salvador, hiding his true self from others, and finding refuge and solace in the bars that would play the same music that was playing that night in Orlando where 49 people were killed and dozens of others lay wounded. He was hurting.

He and another young man read the list of names of those who died that night. The list went on forever. Forty-nine suddenly seemed like a much greater number.

I asked him if the vigil was at all cathartic, and he said it was. He spoke for those who died in a way I never could, and it reached people. It reached me.

Today I sent links to the news coverage to Rabbi Rob and Sandy, the man from my church who helped get the ball rolling. Sandy responded by saying he’d forwarded those links to his son, who, as a gay man, was deeply affected by the shootings. I didn’t even know he had a son, and I was pleased to have been part of something that may have bonded the two of them.

I sent a message to those who’d first contacted us through Facebook as well. “You may not hear this from anybody else,” I wrote, “but you can be proud of the fact that it was your message, along with a similar message from someone else, that kicked off the chain of events that led to the vigil. Thank you for your concern.”

bigstock-Strong-Chain-Concept-95906750 smOne woman wrote back, “my daughter is always wanting to do something for the community. I’m glad I can tell her little things can grow.”

Send the note, plant the seed, make the suggestion. Maybe that’s all you can do, but the person who receives the message may know the people who have all the right contacts for desired end result.

It’s good to be a link in a chain of healing.

Image Credits (Top) © Graphic Stock (Bottom) © Bigstock

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Never, never, never quit

The Saga Continues…

I have to give my Mimi credit — she doesn’t give up. Ever focused in her goal to explore this new territory, her retreat is momentary. With only seconds needed to regain her composure, she sets out once again to conquer all.