Peggy Noonan: 'Everybody's Been Shot'

Opinion Journal ^ | 01/11/2002 | Peggy Noonan

[Pokey78]

There's a small but telling scene in Ridley Scott's "Black Hawk Down" that contains some dialogue that reverberates, at least for me. In the spirit of Samuel Johnson, who said man needs more often to be reminded than instructed, I offer it to all, including myself, who might benefit from its message.

[Pokey78]

Ping. Not one of her better ones. but there it is.

[pgkdan]

Ping. Not one of her better ones. but there it is.

Oh...I don't know, she's right on target, that's for sure. Peggy Noonan at her worst is better than most at their best. And if that last bit about Dingell is true my hat's off to him.

[RaceBannon]

Actually, this needs to be linked to the story of the UGLIEST GIRL IN SCHOOL thread!

[gcruse]

According to Fox and Friends, Dingle did not tell the security people he was in the government.

[kayak]

She sure has hit one of my hot buttons. I spend a lot of time ranting to friends and family about how people these days wallow in pity parties ... and the country is not better for it. If the early settlers and pioneers had acted that way, they would never have gotten any farther inland than the beaches ... and they may have turned the boats around 30 minutes after leaving the mother land!

[Pompah]

"Peggy Noonan at her worst is better than most at their best."
Amen to that Sir.

[Big Guy and Rusty 99]

my wife and I think she hit the bullseye perfectly.

[Pelham]

Ping. Not one of her better ones. but there it is.

Yeah, this wanting to co-opt "everybody's been shot" is a bunch of crap. Soldiers get shot. At most "we" have been shocked by recent events, but we certainly haven't been shot. Save it for the soldiers.

[hocndoc]

Good job, both to Ms. Noonan and you.

[teeman8r]

the line is "everybody's shot" not "been shot", everybody's shot metaphorically speaking, means everybody's worn out, run down, burdened beyond capacity to function, "shot". yes the soldiers being shot is more tragic, but nowadays, everybody's shot. i think she nailed it. thank goodness for noonans.

[Pelham]

The semantic distinction is insignificant. I could care less whether her tense is Present Perfect or Past Perfect, the point is she's associating the poor stressed out feelings of poor stressed out Americans with soldiers who actually get shot. Having seen the damage done to a friend who was shot, I think she's full of crap.

[onyx]

Dingle is no hero in my book. He helped to pass the knee-jerk legislation, so of course he should submit to a stip search, just like every other person, since we can't profile Arab/Muslims.

[SuziQ]

Cornel West is very, very angry at Larry Summers for suggesting that Prof. West shouldn't essentially perp-walk his way through the halls of academe.

Oh man, does Peggy have a way with words!! I don't know what's been going on about Cornel West. I saw his picture on TV the other day, and having heard things about him in the past, I suspected it was another one of his 'poor pitiful us' rants. I guess I was right, but 'perp-walk; that is just priceless!

But that story about Dingell; I had heard what had happened, and I wondered what his reaction had been. I loved Peggy's take "That's a man who understands everybody's been shot!"

[D-fendr]

Everybody's seen a friend, parent, sibling, loved one in fear and agony, wounded, dying. I think that's Peggy's point; it's not a contest for who suffers the most but who can still drive for others.

"…O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.

[Lauratealeaf]

I always take the time to read every word that Peggy Noonan writes. It is always enlightening. My husband used to tell our kids when they were little and having a hard day that "no one said life was fair." Maybe that sounds harsh but it is true.

[Don Joe]

Well, two things mitigate in his favor: first, he didn't do the "I'm a VIP, dammit!" trip like that idiot congresscritter did in France -- he didn't even say he was a Congressman. Second, he's one of the very few pro-Second Amendment Democrats (which warrants him the capital D in his party name. :))

[Miss Marple]

Are you aware of the use of the literary device called a metaphor? She is using the military as an EXAMPLE to be emulated, not claiming glory for regular folks who don't serve. Please read it again with this in mind.

[JoeGar]

Peggy Noonan at her worst is better than most at their best.

It could not have been said better.

[Happygal]

Another great piece by the wonderful Ms. Noonan! :-)