I did not intend to watch the funeral service for Senator
John McCain, televised by every major media outlet in the country, but the
television was on and once I looked at this remarkable event I found it
difficult to turn away. So many aspects of the service were so disturbing that
I simply have to share my reflections--and give thanks to other journalists and
writers who likewise found the spectacle mystifying. Let me count some of the
ways.


During the funeral service a great deal was made of McCain’s
experience as a POW in Viet Nam. I take nothing away from his bravery, courage
and solidarity with other Prisoners of War. But simple honesty demands that we
acknowledge that he broke his arm and leg after he ejected from his fighter jet
and landed in a lake with something like fifty pounds of equipment on his back.
The Vietnamese did not break his arm or his leg. He likely would have died in
that lake had the Vietnamese not rescued him and taken him to a hospital where
he received the attention and care of skilled doctors and a well-trained
medical staff. The simple truth is, the Vietnamese saved his life even though
he was flying missions that killed countless numbers of their own people.

As citizens of United States we want, I want, to believe
that our nation is defending democracy around the world, protecting the
down-trodden and championing the causes of freedom and human dignity. This
desire to believe makes the contrast between Senator John McCain and the Nike
advertisement featuring Colin Kaepernick, which was released the day after the
McCain funeral I think, all the more remarkable.

Both men embody in their own way
the Nike slogan, “Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing
everything.”


Two visions, two nations. Can a house so divided stand?
Deeply troubled by the display of unity between church and state that I saw in
the National Cathedral, I remain a “prisoner of hope,” to borrow from the
Apostle Paul, for I believe that fundamentally Christians must witness to a
gospel of nonviolence. Such a witness changed the world once, and it may do so
again.
David P. Hansen
Contributor and Author
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