We were simply stunned when we heard the news last week. Baseball is something many in this country, and throughout the world, use as a much-needed distraction from the horrors we see on television or read about in newspapers and online. Last week the sport was pushed into the spotlight… for all the wrong reasons.
By now we all know what happened on the morning of June 14. A gunman from Illinois traveled to Eugene Simpson Stadium Park in Alexandra, Va., and opened fire on Republicans from the House of Representatives who were practicing for a charity baseball game the next day.
Four people were injured—two Capitol police officers, a legislative aide to Rep. Roger Williams of Texas, and Republican House Majority Whip Steve Scalise. The crime could have broken the country further apart, but the House of Representatives took a much different approach… an approach that this country needs now more than ever.
What this country got was unity. House Speaker Paul Ryan, hours after the shooting, took the floor of the House and delivered some spot-on remarks. He said: “And we are united. We are united in our shock. We are united in our anguish. An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.”
This wasn’t government people battling one another. This was something that seemed unheard of the past few years. The House was unified.
There was no way this baseball game was going to be cancelled. It has been played since 1909, and one individual wasn’t going to take America’s pastime away from America’s House of Representatives. Hate and evil were not going to win out.
So the next day, Republicans and Democrats took to the baseball diamond just as they planned to do not two days prior.
And for a few hours, things were somewhat back to normal. A record 24,959 packed Nationals Park, home of the Major League Baseball’s Washington Nationals, to celebrate an American tradition and enjoy a spirited evening of baseball.
Before the game started, every member that played in the game lined the infield in a moment of prayer for those wounded during the Republican baseball practice.
David Bailey, a member of the Capitol Police Force who was shot while running toward the shooter in an attempt to take the gunman down during that fateful practice and saved countless lives with his heroics, threw out the ceremonial first pitch… crutches and all.
The Democrats won the game in a big way, pulling out the 11-2 victory. But in reality, everybody in attendance, all the House members who participated and the rest of the country, were the winners. While the Republicans and Democrats were in different dugouts, they were unified. They all wanted to be there. They all wanted to play baseball. They all wanted to entertain the boisterous fans who came out to see the game.
They all wanted to put on a good show for the Washington Literacy Center, the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Washington, the Capital Police Memorial Fund and the Washington Nationals Dream Foundation, the recipients of proceeds from the donations, tickets and sponsorships.
The Democrats immediately gave their victory trophy to the Republicans and told them to put the trophy in Steve Scalise’s office until he’s able to return to work.
At the end of Ryan’s remarks to the House, he said: “So before this House returns to its business, I want us to slow down and reflect, to think about how we are being tested right now. Because we are. I ask each of you to join me in resolving to come together… to lift each other up… and to show the country—show the world—that we are one House. The people’s House—united in our humanity.”
While it’s sad and unfortunate that it takes something like this to get Republicans, Democrats and Independents to come together, let’s hope that Ryan’s remarks stay true. Let’s hope that one day, very soon, our government representatives don’t rely so heavily on party affiliation to vote on what it thinks is best for this country. Here’s hoping they use their hearts and their consciences to do the most good for the most people.
That would go a long way to truly making this country even greater than it already is.
