--H.L. Mencken, The Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920
Posted on 04/06/2012 7:56:21 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Some news just snaps all other news into perspective. The Santorum campaign sent out a statement today requesting prayers and privacy for their family, as their youngest daughter, Bella, is in the hospital.
Hogan Gidley, National Communications Director, said: “Rick and his wife Karen have taken their daughter Bella to the hospital. The family requests prayers and privacy as Bella works her way to recovery.”
Rick Santorum had already announced a brief hiatus in campaigning. This is the second time this year that Bella, who suffers from a chromosomal condition called Trisomy 18, has had to be hospitalized. In January, she had pneumonia in both of her lungs and spent several days in the ICU.
Bella’s struggle makes me want to just press “Pause.” On a daily basis, we work and play, eat and sleep. It’s usually not until someone is sick that we ponder the precariousness of our lives. It’s worth considering on a regular basis, though. The knowledge that life is short for everyone and thereby especially precious is no excuse to not run for president, build a house, write a book, buy a car, start a company. It should, rather, be an added incentive to embrace life in all its fullness and pursue whatever goals we have with boldness.
But it should also remind us that, if we want to gracefully withstand the daily pressures of life, we have to root ourselves in something transcendent. All political problems and all political solutions are temporal. As T.S. Eliot put, “There is no such thing as a lost cause because there is no such thing as a gained cause. We fight because we know that our defeat and dismay may be the preface to our successors’ victory.”
Rick Santorum’s campaign has illustrated such rootedness. He’s not been discouraged by temporary setbacks because he knows life is about so much more than politics. No doubt Bella reminds him of that daily. Today, she serves as that reminder for me, too.
My thoughts and prayers are with the Santorums this Good Friday. May the weekend bring hopeful developments for little Bella.
Saddened to hear of this.
Even if he is a jerk.
--H.L. Mencken, The Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920
Prayers for sweet little Bella.
Ok Flame away.
Santorum slamming “jerks” can’t back off Rick even with a sick child. If you don’t believe it God, how about Karma?
Prayers for Bella. God bless and keep her.
Santorum is an a$$hole.
That being said, my heart goes out to him and his family for his sick daughter.
Clear enough?
Must be nice to live a perfect life. Is your name Jesus? How about your candidate? Perfect?
You’ve got that right. One of the most appealing things about Rick is that he’s a great father and family guy. Once upon a time when this country was sane, that counted for something.
My candidate isn’t that much of a hypocrite.
here here!!! well said
here here!!! well said
here here!!! well said
later
Newt? Romney? Obama?
Nice of you to say so, even if you are an idiot.
Sort of the way the Germans united at the Battle of the Bulge.
Sympathies and prayers to the Santorum family.
I’ve never understood why a guy like this would run for president at a time like this. His kids are YOUNG, he’s got a daughter who needs parental time and attention. There is a time and a season for everything ...ten years from now, maybe.
I don’t get it.
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