By: Cynthia Shaffer
Charles Krauthammer. He’s one of those people about whom you learn more in death than in life; as evidenced by one of my friend’s comments who I consider very politically astute and a personal sounding board in today’s wildly accepted standard of fickleness, “Am I the only one who didn’t realize Charles Krauthammer was in a wheelchair?? Just read about his life story and never knew he was paralyzed.”
My response, “Girl, I laughed out loud when I read your post!!! It’s just how he would want it to be. He’s FDR II.” The FDR reference meaning the 32nd president of the United States of America, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was also in a wheelchair. Unlike FDR’s time with an old-school “gentlemen’s agreement”, rudimentary tactics of the Secret Service, and void of social media, Krauthammer had no such luxury. All the more extraordinary it is how many people did not know about his circumstance. In some respects it is a testimony to how society’s views regarding disabilities has changed, for the better.
Conversely, because we live in a time when it’s popular to declare one’s defined protected class identity on today’s all-access information highway, all the more extraordinary that a high-profile figure like Krauthammer chose instead “…the pursuit of truth and right ideas through honest debate and rigorous argument.” He believed this pursuit “a noble undertaking.” Judging by the overwhelmingly respectful reflections of Mr. Krauthammer in memoriam, it seems to me he is one of the few political stalwarts who was able to remain faithful to his personal standard of intellectual excellence.
Though known for his academic brilliance and considered a leading conservative voice, I was more taken by his consistency to engage in public discourse with dignity, rationale, and a sophisticated sense of humor. For all of how Mr. Krauthammer could wax eloquently using an entertaining combination of mot juste and bon mot, when the rubber hit the road, he was a fine example of how to be well-mannered and treat people right.
I’d like to say he was one of my go-to political commentators, but that would be a lie. There were many times I was disappointed in his standing on one issue or another, the greatest being his opinion regarding the Charlie Gard situation; however, these standings never quenched that which impressed me the most: Mr. Krauthammer’s content of character to walk his talk. A rare quality, indeed, these days.
@CyFlys
