How to Clean Up Your Mess:  Grace versus Cunning

Lent has opened with a striking pair of examples of what to do, and what not to do, when you are caught in a kerfuffle.

Kerfuffle is a British blended word (part Scots, part English) for a commotion or a fuss, especially involving conflicting views.

And Lent is a Middle English word meaning to lengthen, or grow.

Lent, the Oscars, and secret political meetings with the Russian ambassador, are all events involving kerfuffles of major proportions.

And this week, the kerfuffles overlapped, occurring in the space of a few days.

The Oscars were presented  last Sunday night. And who could be unaware of the flub that happened on live TV, in front of tens of millions of Americans and more millions of overseas viewers, when the Oscar for Best Film was – briefly – presented to the wrong film?

After a brief moment of utter confusion, Jordan Horowitz, one of the producers of La La Land, who had just given a thank-you speech, stepped forward with extraordinary grace and genuine goodwill to straighten the whole thing out.

There’s been a mistake, he announced, holding up the card for the cameras to show us all that the true winner was Moonlight, not La La Land. His grace was unflagging, as Jimmy Kimmel, the emcee, intervened with kind words to wish for him and the La La Land cast and crew that the Oscar could be theirs, and that there could be Oscars for all the films nominated. Kimmel reached out to the pain he knew would be inevitable.

But Horowitz did not flag in his graciousness. He was, he said, with genuine appreciation (and all of us could hear), honored to present the Oscar to Moonlight, as he held it forth with a smile and a slight bow of his tall frame, as he presented it to the stunned crew of Moonlight who were still stumbling onto the stage in wonder.

He could have indulged in a comment about how hard it was to have the Oscar leave his hand and his film. But he did not.

And the next morning, when tempted again by the press to articulate feelings of sorrow and loss, Horowitz would have none of that, replying, on camera, that he had had both the privilege of giving a thank-you speech and the privilege of presenting the Oscar for Best Film, and he considered himself a twice blessed man in all of this.

How many of us could do the same? And is this not the definition of grace under pressure?

Oscar Sunday was followed by a gasp of a Monday, then Mardi Gras and Ash Wednesday, the day that launches Lent for Christians, that time when, in various ways, people of faith try to grow their hearts and souls to be able to welcome Easter. Easter, which follows the holy day of Friday, called Good, when Jesus modelled grace under pressure for us all.

On this Ash Wednesday, in fact, another kerfuffle was revealed, as the Washington Post published evidence that newly confirmed Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions had in fact met with the Russian Ambassador twice during the campaign and before the inauguration, though in his Senate hearing, in response to a direct question from Sen. Franken, he had denied any communication with Russians on his part.

A storm of chattering arose, among politicians and the media. Sessions made no response for nearly twenty four hours, and then came forward to hedge his bets by recusing himself from heading the investigation into Russian interference in the US elections. This was amid calls for his resignation, for lying to Congress. Which Sessions insisted he did not do, he had, he said, merely forgotten to mention those meetings.

Well. Apples and oranges here? I think not. Horowitz stands to lose big bucks by handing off that Oscar, for Best Films are marketable in a big-money way. And as the man who put up dollars to make this film, Horowitz has a lot riding on its success.

As well, Horowitz’ own future as a producer will be affected by the loss of this status, as he would surely have had his pick of the crème de la crème of future films to produce, had La La Land won Best Film. So there was indeed some pain involved for him in this kerfuffle. But his character is so fine he simply did not allow himself to go there. And because of his strength of character, the rest of the cast and crew have followed his lead, keeping whatever tears they have to themselves.

Sessions also has prestige and power at stake, and money, if not now, then later, after his term as the nation’s top lawyer ends. And he is nowhere near as gracious in kerfuffle handling. In fact, his behavior seems cunning, shrewd, and calculated.

Sessions will not hand over the Oscar which this position is for him, not now. There will have to be a great deal of pushing and shoving to wrest from his hand this golden prize. This very weekend he is flying to Mara Lago to meet with the President, and best guesses by commentators are that they will be huddling to plan strategy for containing the handling of the investigation from which Sessions has just recused himself.

Sessions is a United Methodist and a Sunday School teacher in his church. Jordan Horowitz is Jewish. But for grace under pressure, the Oscar goes to Jordan Horowitz, a Jewish guy (and so was Jesus), and a magnificent human being.
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Image: 2017 Oscars Poster. wikipedia.com