Blog by Sr. Barbara Kane, OP[/caption]
I love musicals and when I saw that one of my favorite ‘dramas’ turned one of their episodes into a musical, an interesting thought came to me. What if we turned Congress into a musical? So bear with me as we do a little thought experiment…. Congress: the Musical!
Our musical starts with a young freshman representative on the steps of the Capital. She looks amazingly like a young Flo, the women on the insurance commercials. Like Mary Tyler Moore as Mary Richards, she whirls around surveying the city from the steps and starts to sing,
“Popular… I want to be popular.
I want to get lots of votes and
climb lots of ropes to get to where I want to be.
I’m sure I’ll soon be popular!” (1)
She hastens into the capital building hurrying down the hallway to the chambers. Along the way who does she observe but Chuck Schumer and Paul Ryan challenging each other:“Any bill you can pass, I can pass better,
I can pass any bill faster than you...
No, you can’t. Yes, I can.
No, you can’t. Yes, I can.
No, you can’t. Yes, I can, yes I can!”
Yikes, she thinks. Getting anything done is going to be tough. She takes her seat along with all the Senators and Representatives to observe a young child sitting ready to give some kind of testimony. Suddenly, the child begins to sing,“Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.”
Another child joins her:“Let there be peace on earth a peace that was meant to be.”
More and more children join them… black, white, brown… Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Buddhist.. all colors, shapes and sizes, all singing,“With you as my partner, we will all be free.
Let us walk with each other in perfect harmony.”
Tears come to her eyes as she is moved by the beauty and compassion of the song and the children singing. Feeling compelled to do something, our newbie jumps up and belts out:“Come on, people now, smile on each other.
Everybody get together,
try to love one another right now.”
Suddenly, the chairs on either side of the main aisle part and move to the side revealing a stunning dance floor; senators and representatives slowly make their way to the other side of the aisle, reaching out to their counterpart… Sherrod Brown reaches for Rob Portman… Republicans to Democrats… independents to tea party members… liberals to conservatives. They all begin an intricate dance that requires cooperation and respect to accomplish. They dance to the peace song being sung by the children. They must come together to perform the beauty of the dance. And they do!!! The power of the music overcomes the reservations, disagreements, or partisanship in the assembly. In the finale, everyone sings:“Let peace begin with me. Let this be the moment now With every step I take. Let this be my solemn vow To take each moment. And live each moment In peace eternally Let there be peace on earth. And let it begin with me.”
Our freshman representative learns a valuable lesson. Congress can work together, they can commit to building peace, and she knows it has to begin with her. Pretty great thought experiment, huh? Wouldn’t it be amazing if all we needed to do was make all our senators and representatives sing and dance to bring peace to the world!