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Are We There Yet? vol. 41 Thumbnail

Are We There Yet? vol. 41

Last Friday, Judy Woodruff from the PBS News Hour offered a tribute to Mark Shields who was joining the News Hour for his last show that day. He has been a political commentator on the News Hour for the past 19 years offering analysis and commentary alongside New York Times columnist and author David Brooks. When it was his turn to speak, Mr. Shields talked about his values and noted that “every one of us has been warmed by fires we did not build, and everyone of us has drunk from wells we did not dig. And together, we can’t do less for those who come after us. And, together, we can do so much more.”  He went on to talk about politics as a noble profession, something many of us cannot imagine right now given the divides we see today.   But he remains optimistic.  He said “I believe politics is the peaceable resolution of conflict among legitimate competing interests.  And I don’t know, in a nation as big and brawling, this great continent which we occupy, and diverse as ours, how we would resolve our differences, except through the commitment, the passion, the intelligence, the courage of those who are willing to practice the political process and achieve compromise.”  The viewer could see clearly how passionate Mr. Shields is in his beliefs.

But there was one line in his comments that stood out for me as particularly appropriate during this holiday season.  It was the words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt who said, “the measure of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, but whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”

The holidays are a season of giving, sharing, and remembering those we know, those who have died and those who are less fortunate than us.  For me, the quote from Roosevelt could not have been more timely.   

This week’s selection is:

VIDEO:

Voices of Fire (Netflix)

Grammy Award winner Pharrell Williams and his uncle, Bishop Ezekiel Williams, envision a diverse choir that will draw people to God through gospel music. As they hold auditions to find talent in Pharrell’s hometown of Hampton Roads, Virginia, they witness how the sung gospel changes the lives of its singers.