GETTING A GRIP

 By Edwin Cooney

Hello All,

Last week I wrote that much of America is in pain and "that's a shame."

So, how are we Democrats getting a grip? I hope we're not spending a lot of time regretting President Biden and his administration nor the nomination of Vice President Kamala Harris or Governor Tim Walz. Of course, some analysis is healthy and even relevant, but let's not scrutinize them to the point of pushing them out of the party as 1981 Democrats sought to do to Jimmy Carter. The main things to keep in mind are twofold:

First, now that Donald Trump and his ilk control the House, Senate, and the Supreme Court, they are solely responsible for what works and what doesn't work. Naturally, there are fissures in the GOP just as there are in the Democratic Party that may well modify the president's nominations and his legislative proposals.

Second, how the president and his minions do what they propose to do will have an effect on how popular they remain. Every administration has a social and political flavor.

Harry Truman was all about “a fair deal at home and abroad.” Ike's administration was about protecting us from Communism. JFK was about youth, glamour and, late in the president's term, civil rights and a nuclear test ban treaty. LBJ was about a bigger and better Rooseveltian new deal. Nixon was about establishing a new "Southern political strategy” and "peace with honor” in Vietnam. Ford sought to "whip inflation now” and protect Nixonian Republicanism. Carter was about everyone's human rights, even in the Middle East! Reagan was about conservatism ending the Cold War. George H. W. Bush was about enlightened conservatism (”read my lips, no new taxes”). Clinton was about neoliberalism. George W. Bush was about stopping terrorism after September 11th, 2001. Barack Obama was about creating healthcare for everyone. Trump's first term was about halting liberal carnage. Joe Biden was about building bridges to sensitive liberalism.

Over the two plus weeks since the election, President-elect Trump appears to be about stripping away needless government and installing procedures that best benefit the wealthy.

What concerns this observer is this department of “Government Efficiency.” Government isn't for the poor and disadvantaged. Government is for the “happy-go-lucky” among us. When government works for the Republicans, it is as American as J. Edgar Hoover once was. When government primarily helps the disadvantaged, it's socialistic, communistic and non-Christian.

The bottom line today is that President-elect Trump, by securing the popular vote, has earned the chance to do things his way rather than mine.

For the present, it's President Trump's bat and ball. If he doesn't get it right, Lucy will demand that Charlie Brown jump on his Democratic donkey and go snatch it away from him!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY

MUCH OF AMERICA'S IN PAIN AND THAT'S A SHAME!

By Edwin Cooney

We proud Democrats are in a lot of pain! After all, last Wednesday morning, Donald Trump achieved popular election to the office of President of the United States. Of course, we didn't want Mr. Trump to win at all, but we might have felt a tad better if he'd won in the Electoral College while losing the popular vote. All of us are now forced to live (notice I don't say surrender) to Mr. Trump's reality. Now is not the time to debate the differences between democracy and republicanism. The majority prevails in a democracy and, for the present, Donald Trump has prevailed.

Living with reality is distinct from surrendering to prevailing conditions. President-elect Trump also will face limitations and conflicts just as Lyndon Johnson ultimately had to face even in the wake of his 1964 “mandate" and just as Franklin D. Roosevelt did with his 1936 mandate. FDR stumbled when he sought to “pack" the Supreme Court. LBJ faltered when he sought to prevail militarily in Vietnam.

Already, there's a potential conflict between congressmen representing fossil fuel "drill drill drill" constituents versus clean energy companies expecting to manufacture and profit from the sale of those environmental and energy-saving electronic vehicles.

One of the lessons history teaches is that the more responsibility one seeks and accepts, the more accountability one will have!

As for your and my political and social preferences, for our own well-being we can't root for the failure of our national leadership without wishing failure on ourselves. The well-being of our constituents is as legitimate today as it has been. Their time and ours will come if we're conscientiously vigilant!

There was one very tiny phrase in Mr. Trump's victory statement  that gave me a little encouragement. Rather than asserting that he would make America "great again,” he stated that he had to make America better! All of us, individually and collectively ought to strive to be "better!"

Emotionally, I detest Donald Trump and almost everything he stands for and promotes. However, with his victory last Tuesday he has become an historic figure. Should he achieve as few as three of his stated objectives, his presidency will be as significant as those of Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Wilson, FDR, Truman, LBJ, and Reagan.

Mark Antonio Wright, who today edits The National Review, the magazine founded and once edited by William F. Buckley, Jr, recently asked a set of very intriguing questions about the outcome of last Tuesday's election.

Why, Mr. Wright wondered, didn't Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and the rest of those Democratic “goons” cheat this time? Didn't they have control of the Justice Department, the FBI, and the rest of the “deep state’s" intelligence and law enforcement agencies? After all, didn't they successfully cheat President Trump out of his re-election straight from Joe Biden's Delaware basement back in 2020? It just doesn't make sense to Mr. Wright, whom we must assume is no friend of Biden and his liberal Democratic ilk!

Still, Mr. Wright wonders why, in the face of January 6th and Mr. Trump’s criminal convictions, the Democrats decided not to “cheat” and thus deny Donald Trump another term. How can that be?.

As for Vice President Harris, her heart may hurt a bit, but she'll land on her professional and political feet. She's already achieved the honor of her party's nomination. Count the number of people who have sought that highest of honors and compare that to the number of people who have even achieved that honor!

Soon, President Biden will greet Mr. Trump at the White House and offer a smooth transition — not because he should, but because he ought to!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY

STRAIGHT FROM THE SHOULDER!

 By Edwin Cooney

Tomorrow, I will go to our town hall and cast my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. I fervently hope you will do the same!

I've been a Democrat since 1976 when I abandoned the Republican Party in favor of Jimmy Carter and I have only occasionally glanced backward to ponder my affection for favored old Republican heroes.

What appeals to me about the general trend of the Democratic Party is its insistence that John and Sally Q. Citizen ought to be continuously considered when determining the best path to be taken in every aspect of national policy, foreign or domestic. Harry Truman used to say that the rich legitimately pay for influence at the highest levels of government. That's all well and good, he went on to say. However, working men and women who lack the capacity to pay for influence need the president and an active Congress to do their bidding. Thus, we all start out with the ability to elect imperfect men and women who invariably disappoint an imperfect constituency.

Over the years, millions of Americans have been disappointed  by the leaders of both political parties, whether it be by the teenage whims of Bill Clinton or the willfulness of President George W. Bush determined to go to war in Iraq to avenge the sins of Saddam Hussein against his father, George H. W. Bush.

Thus, millions of Americans recently have sought a leader who would be determined enough to cut through conventional ways of evaluating events and circumstances. Such a man was to be Donald John Trump, a "mighty hard little crabapple" out of "The Big Apple."

Determined to "Make America Great Again" without defining what that really means, Mr. Trump leaves it up to the most unhappy constituency to make that determination. Since history demonstrates again and again that the new comes from altering the old, anger toward the old is the best pathway toward significant or even fundamental  change.
Many years ago, columnist and comedian Will Rogers, who used piles of ink making fun of politicians, once observed that our system of checks and balances was so perfect that no person could deliberately destroy it. Sadly, as we get ready to go to the polls tomorrow, we  aren't as certain as Mr. Rogers was even during the Great Depression. (Rogers joked that America was the first nation ever to go to the poorhouse in an automobile!)

About two weeks ago, New York Times columnist Bret Stephens suggested a closing argument that Vice President Kamala Harris could use to close her case against Mr. Trump. He asserts that if Mr. Trump wins, we will be a bitterly, vocally, emotionally, exhaustingly divided country. You know this because whatever you thought of his first term, you remember how that division became a part of your daily life. She could point out:  "Thanksgiving dinners you stopped going to -- because of Trump. Friends and neighbors you stopped speaking to -- because of Trump. Topics you wouldn't broach -- because of Trump. There was no getting away from it. Trump is a human jackhammer pounding outside your window at 6:30 a.m. The noise is incessant. It's in the ad hominem tweets, the nasty nicknames, the disparagement of anyone who disagrees with him as an idiot, a weakling, an enemy of the people. And let's be honest: the noise also came from the enraged reaction that Trump provoked, whether on cable TV or the streets of many of our cities. Trump brought out the worst in everyone, not just his most ardent fans but also -- yes -- his most acerbic critics. In the four years of his presidency, he turned us into a nation of haters. He'll do it again if you elect him next month."

Through my lifelong experience of people’s natural behavior, I’m convinced that the vast electorate is deeply and genuinely sick and tired of Mr. Trump's emotional vamping. However, history may be about to tell me that I'm badly mistaken.

After all, the history of our British cousins demonstrates that they too often were ruled by selfish kings, jealous kings and even murderous kings. A king was usually the strongest warrior imbued with majestic royalty. In 1199, King Richard the Lionheart was succeeded by his youngest brother John who wrecked England's economically and militarily so badly that Pope Innocent the Third temporally prohibited England from participating in all spiritual ceremonies and rights. This was devastating to a medieval society that so depended on the blessings of God for a sense of spiritual equity. The result in 1216 was the Magna Carta which denied the king the right of absolute rule. Later on, came the Wars of the Roses between the Yorks and the Lancaster during the 1400s.

Still later, King Henry the 8th clashed with Rome and the struggle between the Catholics and Protestants put Britain in an economic and political tailspin for decades to come.

Now we in America  could be on the verge of a twisted form or version of democracy. We may learn the lesson that a majority may well be wicked enough to choke itself to death via its own resentment of the conditions in which it is currently living!

However, as near as we may be to an economic and moral disaster, we're not there yet.

What you and I are still free to do in the privacy of the voting booth tomorrow, November, 5th, is to bring  this lunge toward oligarchy to a screeching halt.

Back in 1976, Christians nearly rejected a presidential candidate because he told Playboy that he sometimes had lust in his heart. Today some Christians (although I don't believe that it's most Christians) are about to support the presidential candidacy of a man who stands atop a political platform to openly discuss the significance of a dead golfer's manhood.

I still believe that there's a lot of good sense within the conscience of the American people. Certainly no one would insist that Vice President Kamala Harris represents all that's pure and good. However, any political movement that spreads suspicion and hatred among a free people demonstrates a lack  of regard toward the constituency it seeks to govern.

I'm convinced that tomorrow, November 5th, 2024, the fair-minded and the “lionhearted" people of the United States of America will say no to Donald Trump.

If fair-minded Americans say yes to Mr. Trump, then I suppose we all deserve him.

As for now, I present to you the dismissal words uttered by Oliver Cromwell when he decided that the Long Parliament of 1748-1760 had lasted too long. This dramatic and powerful rejection applies to Mr. Trump in 2024:

"You have sat too long here for any good you've been doing. Depart, I say,  and let us have done with you. In the name of God---Go!"

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY

THE WORLD SERIES WHERE HOPES AND EXPECTATIONS INVARIABLY CLASH

By Edwin Cooney

Since October of 1903, baseball's World Series has, at least, dominated America's sub-headlines. This year is quite special because the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers, at least in the public's mind, will seek to settle old scores going back to 1941 when Joe McCarthy led the Yankees and Leo Durocher led the boys from Brooklyn. (Note: Leo had played shortstop for Babe Ruth's 1920’s Yankees and neither thought much of the other.)

Beginning in 1941, the Yankees prevailed covering  ’47, ’49, ’52, and ’53 until 1955 when Brooklyn finally conquered the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. In each of those World Series, something out of the ordinary happened.

In 1941, Dodgers catcher Mickey Owen missed a curveball thrown by pitcher Hugh Casey with two out in the ninth of Game 3 that led to a Yankee victory that turned the series around.

In 1947, Yankee pitcher Bill (whose given name was Floyd) Bevens no hit the Dodgers at Ebbets Field but lost to the Dodgers when Cookie (Harry) Lavagetto hit a pinch-hit double that led to a 2 to 1 Dodger victory. (Ironically, Bevins, who barely avoided the glory realized by Don Larsen 9 years later, never pitched another game for the Bronx Bombers.)

In Game 1 of the 1949 series, Yankee outfielder Tommy Henrich  (“Old Reliable”) hit a dramatic 10th inning homer off Dodger pitching great Don Newcombe to spoil an almost sure Dodger triumph.

In 1952, with the Yankees winning 4 to 2, Jackie Robinson came to the plate with the bases loaded and hit a high pop-up that neither the first or third baseman could see. In fact, neither could Yankee pitcher Bob Kuzava see it. However, Billy Martin came tearing in from second base and caught the ball knee high for the out that ended the inning.

In 1953, Dodger pitcher Carl Erskine struck out 13 Yankees in Game 4, but again Billy Martin came out hitting over .500 with two homers and 8 runs batted in to win the series for the Yankees as well as the MVP award for the 1953 World Series.

In the 1955 World Series, the first one I could comprehend, the Yankees won the first two games, but the Dodgers came roaring back to win it all. The final game at Yankee Stadium was a shutout for young Johnny Podres. It survived a near homer by Yogi Berra which was caught by left fielder Sandy Amoros because he was wearing his glove on his right hand instead of his left. As the Dodger's bus moved out of the Stadium, the Bronx streets were empty, but when the bus reached Brooklyn, the Dodgers got off the bus and joined the delirious crowd.

The year 1956 saw Yankee Don Larsen pitch a perfect game. The series ended with a 9-zip Yankee victory led by a Yogi Berra homer.

Space doesn't allow a series by series description, but the Dodgers swept the Yankees in 1963 and the Yankees won in 1977 led by Reggie Jackson's 3 homers in the sixth and final game. The Yankees won in '78, but the young phenomenon Fernando Valenzuela (who just passed away at age 63) beat the Yankees in 1981 in six games.

Who would ever believe that during the 1946 series, both Ted Williams of the Red Sox and Stan Musial of the Cardinals would both hit below par. Williams who had suffered an injury to his right elbow only hit .204 while Musial would bat a mere .222. That was the last World Series for both Hall of Famers. No one even imagined that would occur!

Who can forget those “amazing” Mets of 1969 who beat the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles in five games following their first game loss to the O’s?

As I write this, the Dodgers, thanks to the bat of Freddy Freeman's grand-slam, lead the Yankees by one game. There could be as many as six games remaining which would allow Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, and Giancarlo Stanton to catch fire.

Three second basemen, Bobby Richardson and Bill Mazeroski in 1960, Chuck Shilling of the Giants in 1962, and Al Wise of the 1969 Miracle Mets have hit dramatic series home runs.

Since the 1903 Boston Americans or Pilgrims, who today masquerade as the Red Sox, beat the Pittsburgh Pirates in 5 games to 3, Americans have matched their hopes and expectations with the fans of an opposing team. Although not until 1992 was there an international flavor to the “Fall Classic,” millions of Americans believe that —after all — America is the world!

Even more to the point, don't expect American baseball fans ever to declare that “the world won the World Series!” The “world” can’t win, because America owns the world — doesn’t it?!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY

OCTOBER, THE MOST WONDROUS MONTH OF THE YEAR!

 By Edwin Cooney

No month on the calendar is as unique as October. It is bedecked with beginnings and ends, starts and finishes.

If you're into baseball, the post season with all its unexpected drama succeeds an already fascinating season. Autumn color and crispness stirs the senses and circulates blood flow with both anxiety and hopeful anticipation.

Although we celebrate July 4th as our country’s birthday, some insist that Friday, October 19th, 1781, the day Lord Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington at Yorktown, Maryland, was America's real birthday!

If you are anticipating an October birthday, you share your birthday month with six United States presidents: Jimmy Carter (October 1st), Rutherford B. Hayes (October 4th), Chester A. Arthur (October 5th), Dwight D. Eisenhower (October 14th), Theodore Roosevelt (October 27th) and John Adams (October 30th).

Additionally, you share your October birthday cheer with two legendary Yankee Hall of Famers. Mickey Mantle was born Tuesday, October 20th, 1931, and his pal with whom Mantle would enter the Hall of Fame in 1974, Edward Charles (Whitey) Ford, was born on Sunday, October 21, 1928.  

October is no stranger to historic events: On October 1st, 1961, Roger Maris hit his long anticipated home run #61 off an obscure Red Sox pitcher named Evan (Tracy) Stallard. On October 10th, 1973, Spiro Agnew became the first Vice President since 1832 to resign. (Note: John C. Calhoun resigned the Vice Presidency to accept his election to the United States Senate by South Carolina.)

On Wednesday, October, 14th, 1964, the Soviet leadership ousted Nikita Khrushchev from power. Two days later, on Friday, October 16th, China detonated its first atomic bomb.

In 1973, President Richard M. Nixon committed the “Saturday Night Massacre” by firing Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Bill Ruckelshaus, Richardson's assistant, due to the fact that they refused to fire Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox for insisting the president release specific tape recordings of the president's conversations. This began Mr. Nixon's downhill path to impeachment and resignation.

Unfortunately, October has brought tragedy and death to mark and mar October’s high religious holidays throughout the Middle East.On Saturday, October 6th, 1973, Egypt and Syria launched their Yom Kippur War against Israel. On Tuesday, October 6th, 1981, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was murdered in Cairo. In addition, there is the recent tragedy of Saturday, October 7th, 2023 from which the world still suffers.  

Beatle John Lenin was born on the afternoon of Wednesday, October 9th, 1940 during a Nazi air raid over Liverpool, England.

At 5:04 p.m. on October 17th, 1989. the Loma Prieta earthquake disrupted the baseball World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland A’s which was about to be played at Candlestick Park. Forty-two people were killed during the 6.9 magnitude quake and part of the freeway collapsed over Oakland.

Looking back, October was especially fun for "us kids" as we anticipated Halloween with wonderful smelling pumpkins and plenty of candy corn shaped like triangles.

"Tangy ‘Tober,” as I like to think of it, features tastes and textures that thrill the palate with delightful doughnuts, cider and cocoa, and really cuddly sweaters along with childhood memories of hayrides in the country.

Important personal and historic events occur every month of our individual and collective years as we wonder, wander and will ourselves towards eternity. However, there are special times that are separate from other times in our hearts. Yet, to this observer, October and August, with April close behind, are particularly memorable.

God bless those who prefer Nat King Cole's "Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer" or who wonder at the promises of romantic love in June, the gifts of Christmas and the thankfulness of November. Nor ought we to minimize January as it opens its gates to a new year! For me, however, October blends anticipation and expectation mellowed by hope in such a way as to steady the spirit. Schools and colleges are open, football is settling in, and hockey and basketball are in full swing.

When, in the early 1950’s, the mighty Yankees would crush the hopes of Brooklyn Dodger fans, those sad days would beckon to the inevitable October days that were to come as Brooklyners would chant, "wait till next year!”

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY    
   

FOR GOD’S SAKE, NEVER HOLD YOUR NOSE!

By Edwin Cooney

You shouldn't be surprised that in this topsy-turvy political era, I have a friend who tells me he may well…hold HIS nose and vote for Donald Trump! I guess I should be grateful that he's even considering holding his nose, but I'm desperately hoping he'll forget his nose and follow some of his individual principles which are both admirable and perfectly grand.

This is a gentleman who's a registered Democrat and a dedicated Christian. Insofar as I know, he hasn't voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since he abandoned Jimmy Carter for Ronald Reagan in 1980. I'm grateful that he's considering politically stutter stepping this November 5th!

Both decency and individual equity require a distinction between Reaganism and Trumpism. Reaganism is principled and contains goals and rules for application. Mr. Reagan tried to use government only for the ultimate military defense of the public. Other uses of government must be limited but primarily used for the benefit of business magnates and bankers whom FDR used to call "economic royalists.”

Trumpism uses government to settle scores with all sorts of people, big and little, including ethnic minorities. Trumpism denies past sins by glorifying Jim Crowism as "states' rights" and demonizes current efforts  such as climate purification as a socialist conspiracy or as a political hoax.   

As a student of history and a voter, I'm fully aware of the foibles most politicians display from time to time.

Nixon seldom told the truth when a quality lie would often do just as well. Jerry Ford, solid citizen that he was, was too politically collegial to have allowed Nixon to resign without a catch-all. (Nixon aide John Ehrlichman insisted that Richard Nixon never knowingly "stepped into darkness as he would have done minus a pardon escape tunnel dug by ‘good old Jerry.’") Jimmy Carter, although a wonderful humanitarian, was derelict in not preparing himself to handle Congress before seeking the presidency. (Besides, presidents don't wear sweaters when giving major addresses nor do they carry their own bags.)

Ronald Reagan's ignorance of the needs of those who lacked his resources was deliberately arrogant and demeaning of others.

George H. W. Bush, though grand in many ways, was a fool to ask the people to "read my lips. No new taxes."

Bill Clinton was an emotional teenager when it came to personal conduct and he was deceitful even in federal court.

George W. Bush was both careless and reckless when anticipating and carrying out foreign policy.

Barack Obama may have been exceedingly articulate socially and even culturally wise, but he wasn't thorough enough when dealing with the Taliban!

Joe Biden's presidency occurred at a time in his life when he couldn't handle it as he once might have!

Donald Trump's fundamental fault is that his ambition is about himself and little else. His ongoing promise to "make America great again" lacks both timeline and definition. Is America great because we are sinless, always tolerant, and richer than any other nation? What makes a nation great or not so great?

Other circumstantial questions come to mind. Who was the last Republican presidential candidate to identify with a former member of the Soviet KGB? If some nations are “shithole nations,” is that due to their culture, their religion, or their social values?

If voters are to judge the Harris/Biden administration, wasn't there once a Pence/Trump administration? After all, wasn’t it Mike Pence rather than Donald Trump who upheld the Constitution of the United States on the afternoon and throughout the evening of Wednesday, January 6th, 2021?

As for how long or often Mr. Trump would be a dictator, I can't know or even guess! However the idea that "dictatorship" is in Mr. Trump's social, emotional mindset or vocabulary disqualifies his candidacy as I see it! Even more significant are the names of the 90 plus people who are insisting in writing, on tape or on video that he is unfit for the office. That can hardly be brushed away by any genuine patriot! These are men and women who’ve been associated with and often appointed to high office by Mr. Trump.

Adlai Stevenson once observed that neither political party has a monopoly on either virtue or rascality. It has been possible from the very outset of our republic that we could choose a very, very bad president!

Keep in mind that the alternative to Mr. Trump and Ms. Harris doesn't have to be one or the other. It can be neither. Of course, “neither” isn't on the ballot! Hence, I insist it's got to be Kamala Harris!

Unlike my nose-holding friend and considering who is running, I'm going to let my nose do what's natural to it! After all, noses — like political candidates — both run without my consent!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY

 

BEYOND THE REASON WHY

(updated from February 18, 20008)

By Edwin Cooney

Like most everyone else, almost any time I hear of a tragedy, the first reaction that enters my mind or crosses my lips consists of the word: why? Very often, however, the question “why” just isn’t enough.

The tragedy that has recently gripped my attention happened during the third week in January in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania about six miles from Center City, Philadelphia.  Fifty-three-year-old Barbara Killian -- blinded from an accident when she was a baby -- and her little white lap dog A-Rod died in the basement of their home by the hand of Barbara’s eighty-four-year-old father Robert Killian who then turned the gun on himself.  Mr. Killian had just been released from a local hospital having been treated for advanced cardiovascular disease.  Convinced that he didn’t have long to live, Mr. Killian apparently believed he had to provide a permanent solution to what he perceived would be Barbara’s struggles in his earthly absence.  Thus, believing as he did that Barbara would be both alone and helpless in this world of expectation, cruelty and demand, he decided that her life should end with his.

Hence, sometime between Tuesday, January 15, when Killian was released from the hospital, and Saturday evening, January 19 at six pm, Robert Killian shot Barbara, their little dog, and himself to death in the basement of their home on Cheswold Road. 

According to the sum of all reports out of Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania,  Barbara and Robert Killian had lived alone since the death of Shirley, Barbara’s mother and Robert’s wife, in 2001; the Killians “minded their own business;” Robert Killian was extremely protective of Barbara; and, finally, there was a lot of love in the Killian home as evidenced by Mr. Killian’s constant devotion to Barbara.
So there you have it: the who, the what, the where, the when, and, only superficially, the why of the story. Surely, however, knowledge of these guidelines which every news reporter knows brings one no satisfaction. If you’re anything like me, perhaps you need to pause and take it all in before reading on.
In the emotional wake that occurs as one learns of this tragedy, there is the natural tendency to be outraged, not only with Killian’s murder of his daughter, but even more with what was clearly his demeaning attitude about Barbara’s very existence as a person with blindness.  There are reports that neighbors called area social services from time to time to complain that Barbara was being “held captive” by her parents in her home, the response to which caused the Killians to retreat further into seclusion with their daughter. Inevitably, one wonders what exactly went on in that household upon Mr. Killian’s January 15th return from the hospital. How long had Robert Killian contemplated this irrevocable deed?  What religious or moral matters did Mr. Killian consider before taking Barbara to the basement of their home to meet her death?  Did Killian tell Barbara in advance of his intention or was there a reasoned or even gentle pretext to the basement visit? Did Robert Killian see his act as one of love or one of despair?

Information out of greater Philadelphia regarding Barbara Killian’s existence is sketchy but still revealing. A 1973 graduate of Overbrook School for the Blind, Barbara was shy, intelligent and fun-loving.  She was a baseball fan of the Yankees, especially Alex Rodriguez whom she had met through an organization for the blind.  Thus, she named her little dog A-Rod.

What happened to Barbara Killian has to be very personal on some level to everyone who lives with a disability — especially those who live with blindness.  All of us, whether born able-bodied or disabled, are vulnerable to our parents’ individual environments, values, and attitudes.  Even more relevant to the Killian family tragedy is the strong parental instinct, the overwhelming need to protect our children from the world’s many outrages.

While we’re certainly justified in our righteous anger toward Robert Killian, that anger alone is as destructive to you and me as Killian’s thirty-eight caliber pistol was to Barbara. It would be more helpful, I think, for us all to re-examine what it means to love and protect one another as well as one’s children.

It would be arrogant for any of us to question Mr. Killian’s love for his daughter.  However, Robert and Shirley Killian’s love for Barbara was clearly misdirected as evidenced by their decision to reject a college scholarship, choosing to have her stay at home instead of broadening her horizons. Their legitimate mission was to protect her life and to empower others to ensure her security after they were gone. It’s quite apparent that Mr. Killian was more overwhelmed by his fears than he was sustained by “the better angels of his nature.”

Nothing we can say or write, no wish we can wish, no prayer we may pray, can undo what was done to Barbara Killian by her father. Love is a powerful force. As such it can nurture, sustain, encourage, and therefore foster growth and even greater love.  However, if love is administered with jealousy or fear, it can destroy. It appears that the Killians’ powerful love for Barbara went awry and, hence, it destroyed.
Sadly, Robert Killian believed that the world wasn’t sufficiently trustworthy to match his love for Barbara. Hence he took her with him for her own protection.

Happily, most of us know that the world is worthy because you and I are worthy of the kind of love that sustains and nurtures.

So, in the words of a hit song from the 1970s:  “Let your love flow…”


Ah, but that's what Mr. And Mrs. Killian did, or thought they did!

The broader deeper question is: How did this happen?

First the babyhood accident: what was its cause and nature? I grew up with a friend who was blinded at age two when his mother accidentally dropped him on his head. My friend Fritz, never tried to explain, blame or excuse the cause of his blindness or his mother's role in it. The causes of illness and/or disability are numerous and even undetectable   and lie beyond the power of the inquiry of “why?"

Blindness itself possesses its own set of causes and effects! Most of us tolerate our disability even as we're forced to observe the advantages of others who live with no life-altering disability. Another person I know becomes angry with their disability when experiencing frustration, denial, or especially dependence on the sighted.


Hence, how did Mr. or Mrs. Killian feel about Barbara's blindness? Did they feel guilt or even embarrassment as to their daughter's existence? What was their overall reaction toward human physical, emotional, or even spiritual weaknesses?

Every Fall, new boys and girls were admitted to our sister and brotherhoods at the New York State School for the Blind. One Fall, two boys, Bob and Stan, joined our little brethren. Both had been blinded for about two years. Bob was wounded by a shotgun accident. Even while his family desperately sought a cure for his malady, Bob cheerfully accepted his lot. Stan, on the other hand, sulked and complained to the disgust of many of us including myself. Stan's blindness was the result of a brain tumor. He died in 1965. Insofar as I know, Bob became a lawyer for the state and still lives. (Shame on us blind boys!)


The National Federation For The Blind is right when it asserts blindness is what you live with — it's not who you are!


If only the Killians had been gifted with that perception!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY