The Anchoress
“All Americans can be proud that Roy Benavidez was one of us.”
I’d never heard the astonishing story of this Vietnam-era Medal of Honor winner, Roy Benavidez, until today. You hear the story – of his almost unbelievable heroism in war, and his spirit of volunteerism in civilian life – and ponder his attitude of service, and you wonder…why doesn’t Hollywood tell this story?
It sounds like it could be very inspirational. Nothing wrong with being inspired by substance.
We’ve just seen an entire week of breathless reporting on what amounted to a whole lotta nuthin’” but a story like this – a bit of background, as it is – is shrugged off.
I)n 1991 Cindy McCain was visiting Mother Teresa’s orphanage in Bangladesh when a dying infant was thrust into her hands. The orphanage could not provide the medical care needed to save her life, so Mrs. McCain brought the child home to America with her. She was met at the airport by her husband, who asked what all this was about.
Mrs. McCain replied that the child desperately needed surgery and years of rehabilitation. “I hope she can stay with us,” she told her husband. Mr. McCain agreed. Today that child is their teenage daughter Bridget.
…(T)here was a second infant Mrs. McCain brought back. She ended up being adopted by a young McCain aide and his wife.
“We were called at midnight by Cindy,” Wes Gullett remembers, and “five days later we met our new daughter Nicki at the L.A. airport wearing the only clothing Cindy could find on the trip back, a 7-Up T-shirt she bought in the Bangkok airport.” Today, Nicki is a high school sophomore. Mr. Gullett told me, “I never saw a hospital bill” for her care.
Do you think if the Democrat nominee – any Democrat nominee had done this, it would not be a prime-time news feature and a film on HBO?
Our priorities are really screwed up.
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