Where you stand on the issue of Donald Trump aside, the whole country has been through a prolonged, three-year-long trauma. In contentious times, Stockbridge likes to ask, “What would Mary Flynn say?”
In the era of Miss Mary her words were wise and comforting. Pro-Trump and horrified at impeachment or anti-Trump and horrified it took so long, we all want wisdom and comfort.
Because we were so close for so long, because we spoke daily for 30 years, I can sometimes remember and otherwise guess what Miss Mary would say. In either case, I know the sources of her words and her convictions.
“I was raised a patriot, a Catholic and a Democrat.”
Decorating the altar at St. Joe’s for Christmas, Miss Mary was joined by a mother and daughter. Mary asked the little girl if she would like to place the baby Jesus in the creche. The little one handled the baby with tenderness and carefully placed it in the cradle. Mary praised her and then added, “Always remember, Jesus was a Democrat.”
A patriot, a Catholic and a Democrat: That was Mary. However, that was not Mary speaking. The quote belongs to Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi speaking in the days after announcing commencement of the impeachment proceedings of the president. Pelosi was explaining the sources of her strength and bases for her decisions. That is not all the two women had in common.
I know what Miss Mary’s position would have been on impeachment. Like Pelosi, she would have opposed it until the bitter end. Whatever else Mary did in the interim, like Pelosi, Mary would have prayed for Trump “all the time … [that] God will illuminate him to see right from wrong.”
Right from wrong was a thing about which Miss Mary never was in doubt. Also, like Pelosi, Miss Mary acted out of her own convictions, never swayed by the praise or criticism of others. Both women believed they were responsible for their words and actions in spite of the words and actions of others.
“Could you lose the House in 2020 over this?”a reporter asked Pelosi.
Pelosi answered: “It doesn’t matter. Our first responsibility is to defend and protect the Constitution.”
Like Pelosi, Mary was clear and forthcoming about where she stood. She never doubted her position or shirked her duty. Mary was never confused, even when personal gain conflicted with the public good.
When fighting for gun control, Pelosi said she could not understand those who value their own comforts and profits over the lives of others. Miss Mary was clear-eyed about the cause of America’s problems today. She blamed greed and meant to fight with both fists the resulting destructiveness. The only thing that might have puzzled Mary was the absence of outrage. Sensing that and believing that with the will of the people behind you, anything was possible, Pelosi said we must wait for impeachment until we can bring the public along.
On July 17, 2019, Pelosi was asked if the House response to the president’s attack on four female members (The Squad) was what Trump wanted; were the Democrats “playing into his hands?”
Pelosi responded, “With all due respect, I am not going to answer that, let’s go to a better place.”
For Pelosi, a better place was one wherein she ignored Trump and focused on doing her job. Her job was serving the American people, legislating for the common good and reporting work accomplished. She proceeded to do that.
Pelosi is called the consummate counter of the House members. She knows and understands her colleagues.
Mary valued comity and community. Her students were her children; her town and its citizens were her family. She loved and understood Stockbridge.
Once there was a fight about a fence in Stockbridge. The mothers were outraged. How could anyone stand against a fence that made children safer? Selectman John Beacco did. Beacco stood against the fence, and he stood alone.
A meeting was called. It was certain to be a blood bath: the town against Beacco. It was certain to be unforgiving and unkind. Before anyone else, Miss Mary rose to her feet.
She said, “Before we begin, I want to say a few words about John Beacco.”
She was not to be stopped and before the anyone could, she told of Beacco’s long and exemplary service to the town. She told of her long and productive partnership with him on the selectboard. Was she saving John? Or was Mary saving her town?
Mary sat. The meeting followed her remarks. The fight about the fence was joined, but for that night, after Mary’s words, it was not as mean or vitriolic as it might have been. Beacco eventually lost his seat over the issue, but the town was saved from shame of ingratitude and personal attacks. Pelosi probably saved the House from appearing anxious to wound without adequate cause rather than dispassionately conduct their Constitutional duty.
We live in a time when we risk death by parsing … there are no alternate facts. Ambivalence is not the same as open-mindedness. Confusion is not humility. More than ever, we need a Miss Mary.
“The actions taken by the president have violated the Constitution,” Pelosi said.
The impeachment is forced upon us, according to Pelosi.
Thomas Paine said, “the times have found us,” and if we look, we will see, we have found the woman for the times.
In this time, as we sort out what we can do and who we will become, I can only do this: I can remind readers of decency, humility, the best in us and the best among us, one story at a time.
