THERE’S A DOUBLE theater piece now playing on American screens and newspaper pages that is worthy of our attention. I don’t mean theater as in the sense of make believe — these two events are all too real — but in the sense of events that can be shaped into something that adds value to those events so we can make sense of them and not just glory or despair in them.
The U.S. is currently like the London and Paris of Charles Dickens’ day.
As he famously wrote: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way … ”
Like Dickens’ novel of the French Revolution, A Tale of Two Cities, all of us in this nation are facing terrible times and uncertainties, old wars and rumor of wars. Like Dickens, we sense the end of all we know and love; that is the case regardless of our political party.
Like one of the old tragedies, say of Shakespeare or the Greek dramatists, we see our most prominent politicians today withering away as they lose all their positions given them. The Greek writers documented via theater the fall of entire families. Now we see the last of the Kennedys as a political power, the fading away of the Clintons, the beginning of the end for Trump and maybe also his family, and most of all right now, the two Bidens, father and son.
It all reminds me of the old idea of the rise and fall of kings, that it is inevitable that some rise to great heights while others fall.
In fact, the medieval picture of this was a great wheel turning, some rising, some going toward the depths. But there are people on both sides of that wheel and for those not at the top or bottom, maybe it’s a bit hard to know whether they’re climbing or not. We had the figures at the top having a grand time with their crowns and staffs at the top, and folks tied naked to the wheel forced to go all the way down, but to shift the lyrics of “London Bridge,” we all fall down.
Two rapid falls from fortune in these last two weeks, those of both Hunter and Joe Biden, are basically the stuff of Shakespeare and of Greek tragedy: whole families seeming cursed, one by age and one by drug addiction. And both seem to be plunging toward the bottoms of their arcs.
Here is Joe Biden, president of the United States, coming off what I see as a very fruitful and successful four years (and I know about half of you might agree with that judgment, and half reject it out of hand. That’s fine, there’s room for all of us, but let me say this at least for argument’s sake.)
We’re out of Afghanistan, and though the exit wasn’t pretty or graceful, it got done. We’re in a recovering economy — we have toilet paper again! Is that perfect? No, of course not, but things are currently on the mend. And though the stock market is roaring along and the people with money make more money each day, food, gas and other basic necessities are easier to come by; we’re facing another COVID rise, but symptoms don’t seem as bad, hospitalizations for the fully vaccinated are rare and deaths down, though we all need to remain careful.
Still, I see hope in both the double falls of the two Bidens. In the president’s case, he had, as we all know, a terrible night at the debate in which he faced his challenger, Donald Trump, who has many problems of his own. That night should have left the president on top but what certainly appeared to be memory problems or maybe lasting effects of his COVID case made his stutter worse.
Apparently, he lost track of where he was and what he was saying. So shall we all come. And down he went, though he fought it.
On the next Sunday, he withdrew from the race that was so dear to him, causing a huge jump in the chances of his party and his vice president, Kamala Harris. It was a grace-filled moment, one in which he sacrificed his career for the sake of the country and the party he has always loved.
And his son? After attempting to escape the consequences of the illegal acquisition of firearms after the penalty he received for drug use, he faced up and pleaded guilty to the tax charges against him.
As CNN noted, “[Hunter Biden] could now face up to 17 years in prison for his crimes, which include tax evasion, filing fraudulent tax returns and failing to pay taxes. The judge also said he could also impose a hefty fine, perhaps as much as $1.3 million.”
These are high stakes indeed and could make his fall very deep indeed. But it was a bold move, as Hunter Biden correctly argued the true cause of this wasn’t a moral failure, it was an addiction, an illness and one from which he is recovering. He was willing to face the consequences of his actions in order to protect his family from being dragged through the mud again. This ended the case, and Hunter Biden will face sentencing soon. And there but for the grace of God go we.
We have our moral failings as well. We are human and weak and lack wisdom. But God give us the strength to act likewise, boldly and bravely like these two men in our own times of despair and do the right thing in our terrible times.
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Issues of Faith is a rotating column by religious leaders on the North Olympic Peninsula. The Rev. Dr. Keith Dorwick is a deacon resident in the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia.
