Dan Rather's Facebook Post

[kentuck]

I hope we can let a family grieve in peace.

It saddens me that this has gone so far. It saddens me that the memory of a brave young man is being overshadowed by politics, and I daresay racial overtones that have plagued this country since its founding. We see once again words spoken behind the Great Seal of the United States fail in the face of facts. And we are worse for it, all of us.

This was so avoidable. If President Donald Trump and his Chief of Staff John Kelly are to be believed that the tone of the call to Sgt. La David T. Johnson's widow was misconstrued, why not just say that? Why not just apologize for a misunderstanding around words uttered in a moment when any words are insufficient? But "I'm sorry" or "I was wrong" are sentiments that seem far beyond our current Commander in Chief, the political movement he leads and the media echo chamber he incites. The instinct is to always attack, attack, attack. Bring a gun to a knife fight. Impugn character even if the truth is otherwise.

So we have more pain. We have more division. We have more recriminations. And we have more rending of our social fabric.

Ecclesiastes tells us there is "a time to tear and a time to mend." This was a time to mend. And that is part of the responsibilities of the President of the United States, with all the awesome power that rests in that office.

[RDANGELO]

1. I agree completely. n/t

[Kittycow]

2. Dan Rather is becoming a National Treasure to me.

I'm glad that the young folks have discovered his voice of reason via Facebook.

[coolsandy]

3. Rather is assuming a lot about the humanity of both 45 and Kelly.

[Martin Eden]

4. We have more pain, division, recrimination, rending ...

Trump is doing precisely what the Russian trolls were doing -- pitting Americans against each other.

He continues to collude with them, acting as one of their paid provocateurs.

[pangaia]

5. I was ok and appreciatiave until the last line.

First, why is it necessary to bring 'religion' into this?
Second, I have come to find those words in Ecclesiastes 3, whoever wrote them whenever, to mean something totally different, not literal, but rather direction on how to carry out one's inner work.