Saint of the Month: Heather Heyer

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." (Matthew 5:6)

It's been a year since Heather Heyer, a 32-year-old paralegal, was killed while marching in a counter-protest against white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia. There's not a whole lot I can say about Ms. Heyer myself. There are plenty of tributes online to her character, her kindness, and her desire for justice and equality. She didn't expect to be a  martyr. She simply believed, as all moral people should, that hate speech must not go unchallenged.

Since the start of the current administration in Washington, I have felt extremely uneasy about the tone of discourse in the nation, the message we Americans send to the world, and the direction in which our leaders have chosen to take us. There is a horrible anger here. There is also a blatant and unwelcoming message that the words carved on the Statue of Liberty no longer apply. I find this deeply distressing.

My wife asks me why I get so upset with the nightly news. How do the words of the President or the actions of Congress directly effect me? Certainly, I am concerned that the tax bill passed by our leaders with the ebullient blessing of our President is an egregious error. We can't increase the Federal coffers by decreasing the revenue stream. It simply does not make sense. This absurd decision--which so obviously favors the wealthiest Americans--will undoubtedly result in budget cutbacks for programs for the poorest and most vulnerable among us. It, along with the President's tariff trade war, may very likely lead to a financial disaster which will effect all of us except the very wealthy. Naturally, I am concerned.

What really burdens my heart, however, is the blow which this tax bill, the Muslim ban, the retreat from the Paris Climate Accords, the immigration policy which rips children from their parents, and sundry other actions taken since January of 2017 by the President and Congress has dealt to my sense of what it means to be an American.

I am the proud son of a World War II veteran. I remember growing up thinking that we were the good guys--that we stood for something proud and noble and were meant to be blessing to the rest of the world. Now I feel that we only stand for greed and bigotry.

I recently heard an NPR interview with Heather Heyer's mom. She said that Heather's favorite quote was, "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention." But what do we do with our outrage? Sometimes I chastise myself for not taking a more active part in the opposition to an administration which has betrayed our national values. Heather Heyer, and thousands like her, were not content to sit by like timid Germans in 1933 who claimed they had gone into "internal exile." She went out and took her outrage public. She reminded us that we still live in a democracy, and that our raised voices cans till carry the day. I think it highly significant that the "anniversary" white nationalist march last weekend in front of the White House was a ridiculously small and laughable affair compared to the counter demonstrations at the Lincoln Memorial.

Clearly, Heather's voice was heard.