Fun Size Bytes

When I was in (Catholic) high school, our parish priest died. He had been there for many years and had done many wonderful things during his tenure.

I was unable to attend the funeral, but later heard about it from another friend named Fr. Michael Steele.

Apparently the Bishop had spoken at our priest’s funeral, and had teared up during the sermon.

Father Steele said that some people (including some fellow priests) had criticized the Bishop for showing emotion during the service, which Fr. Steele found confusing. He asked this other priest why he thought it was a bad thing for the Bishop to express his emotions.

Father Steele: “He said, ‘Well, I guess I’m just more of a John Wayne type.’”

Me: “John Wayne? The *actor*?”

After a moment’s pause, Father Steele laughed and said “I wish I had thought of that when he said it! Precisely! He would have preferred someone who pretended like he didn’t have any emotions rather than see how he truly felt.”

My reason for thinking of this story today is obvious.

The president was not playing for the cameras. In fact, he was very clearly trying *not* to look at the cameras, or anyone, during the moments of the speech which were hardest for him.

But even as I watched it I imagined that there would be some who would either claim he was, or that there would be some who would say that they wanted a president who was more of a ‘John Wayne type.’