When I’m down about the state of affairs in this country that I love, I return to one of my favorite shows, The West Wing. I am that old person who now just watches reruns of The West Wing and Seinfeld, it seems. It probably doesn’t come close to capturing the darkness and corruption in modern politics. But I personally love the idealism. It gives me hope. It reminds me of the goodness of people and the impact that good people can make. The show written by Aaron Sorkin is also prophetic. In the pilot of the show, there are hundreds of Cubans escaping across the Atlantic in search of freedom, while the governor of Florida wants to blockade the port of Miami.
And at one point, Jed Bartlett, the president of the United States, played by Martin Sheen, is talking to his staff and he says, “With the clothes on their backs, they came through a storm, and those that didn’t die want a better life. And they want it here. Talk about impressive.”
—from Franciscan Media’s Franciscan Spirit Podcast
with host Stephen Copeland, featuring Suzanne Susany, OSF
