I was reminded of an encounter I had in 1985 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, NY. I was covering the Yankees and other feature
stories for the Woodstock Townsman. Wendy and I did an entire back page called
“Life Acting and The Woodstock State of Mind." You get the idea without
going into detail about our unusual journalistic approach. [Maybe on the next
anniversary of the festival we can have a special. LOL.]
Here's the story for today’s blog. I was leaving where the press exits and was
just outside the public area. Suddenly I
was stunned. There stood a small statured man whom I had recognized. I then heard
shouts from baseball fans headed for their cars, "Tough break Dick ...too
bad you got caught," etc., etc., etc. It was President Richard Nixon.
I stand at 5-ft 7-in "plus" and he was shorter than me. That was my
first surprise. I remember those debates vs. John Kennedy when Richard Nixon
first ran for president in 1960. I remember two healthy tall men. Big men in my
mind as an 11-year-old.
He apparently had special seating near where the press sits and we happened to
exit at the same place and time.
My memory of Mr. Nixon, from when he was a "big man," was that
impeachment from his presidency was not enough. Jail would be right. It’s not
that I was political (I was unintentionally so) but hating Nixon was "the
norm" for my culture. I graduated from Northeastern University in Boston
in 1971 and I was there for the riots and the student strikes. I well remember
Viet Nam and Kent State too. I might add I personally experienced a few riots
as I was chased by Boston police.
I was vacationing
in Mexico in September of 1974 when President Ford pardoned Nixon. The news
ruined my vacation. In my mind justice was not served … yet now this moment I
was looking into his eyes. I saw a fragile man who was in great pain.
You see, this Mr. Nixon was hunched forward and his head was down. The “tough
break Dick” comments were reflecting off his body like a person who had
absorbed so many punches, he no longer could feel the punch. My sense was he
did not need to hear actual comments of criticism because, in a real sense,
that was all he ever heard in his mind, in his heart ... that was breaking. I
was quieted.
I met the 37th
President of the United States, and I know this now because I just flew home
last week from the Grand Rapids, MI airport which is named for "Gerald
Ford - The 38th President of the United States." In 1985 at Yankee Stadium
I remember I no longer hated Richard Nixon. I did not, however, know his person
until I shook his hand, looked into his eyes, and then I said "Mr.
Nixon."
Looking into his eyes, he caught my eye and nodded. We met, then he quietly
walked away. I think I remember seeing an official security person escort him
to wherever they escort former presidents. My moment was over ... but was it?
In the Greek language there are at least two words to describe time . One is kronos from which we get the word
chronological or time on a clock. The
other is kairos which is about
a moment that lasts in such a way that one can grow from it. A God moment, an
eternal note that plays in time causing a memory to live and expand into more
wisdom and truth. I had with the 37th president a kairos moment. l learn from it still.
Wendy and I moved
away from Woodstock in 1986. We sold all we had, and for us it was much –
because it was all we had. We went into full time ministry, and that is another
story for another time, but one thing is for sure: we have seen the depravity
of people.
We have seen
poverty and lived among it, experienced personal loss and wept with others and
they with us. In 18 years of volunteer work at homeless shelters, to go along
with 14 years of fulltime pastoral work, and now 15 years as a traveling
pastor-actor-director- writer, etc., etc., I have never seen a more broken
person than Richard Nixon. His pain was his transparency. The media stereotype
of Richard Nixon as "tricky Dicky" was so far from being true. He was
not the least bit self conscious as so many public and private people are today.
In literature
what makes tragedy tragedy is the
high height one falls from. Richard Nixon certainly fits this description ala another Richard Shakespeare's King
Richard or Macbeth and Hamlet.
I saw a broken man. A man who continued with "the shame" of his
presidency, yet over time and with enormous personal pain …it became his kairos.
He was humbled.
He was humiliated into humility, and it was beautiful to see yet painful to
watch up close as I did. Oh that every poor and rich man would also be "poor
in spirit.” Richard’s shame became his new identity. His sorrow was his outlet.
"Blessed are those who mourn for they
will be comforted." He could not hide the pain of his process. So many of
us miss what he attained because we will not show our loss. Richard Nixon could
not hide from his sin. The public would not allow it. That in irony was his
greatest blessing.
I do not know
exactly when the 37th President died. It
was in the late 80s and soon after his beloved wife died. I remember one
journalist, a former Nixon hater, writing that when he saw how Richard mourned
for his wife and how real it was to Mr. Nixon that he could no longer hate
Richard Nixon.
Another
journalist, after Mr. Nixon died, had a cartoon illustration showing a huge
cloud in the sky and a hand reaching out to Richard Nixon. It was very much
like the hand I met that night at Yankee Stadium. In the cartoon the words
"pardoned."
I never thought
of 1985 as the good old days. They seemed to me to be modern and cut throat.
Certainly it was a culture getting colder and less friendly, and yet that was
30 years ago. In the last 30 years have you seen corruption, guilt, mendacity,
and cover-up? What have you seen in Washington lately in humility or cover up of scandals?
Where are Woodward and Bernstein today? Can you honestly say to yourself there
is no material to get a "Nixon" today?
What I do not see today is what I saw in Mr. Nixon. I saw shame. I do not wish shame on my enemy, but if shame happens, covering up shame only fosters more of what causes shame in the first place. Where is guilt? Where is wrong and where is immoral? “Because of the increase in lawlessness, the love of most will grow cold.” Jesus said this about our times.
You can be your own Richard Nixon and be sorry. Only failures can play. There's
hope for the losers. Buck the trend and end the game. Stop winning at the
losing game and stop losing at that game too. Mr. Nixon left the game and found
the life. The only One. The One he won and wins to this day.
