Gary Goldhammer –author and storyteller.

THERE’S A TIME AND A PLACE.

The time was 8:47 pm. The place was the Potomac, on approach to Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. A U.S. Army helicopter collided with an American Eagle flight, killing all 64 passengers and three military personnel.

The river was on fire as politicians and pundits cried havoc. Bodies lay crushed as social media exploded with theories and absolutes – there weren’t enough air traffic controllers, it was the helicopter’s fault, it was Biden’s fault, it was Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’s fault.

Worst of all, the Coward in Chief of the United States said it was anyone’s and everyone else’s fault, not because he was to blame either, but because he was scared of looking vulnerable or having to be accountable. He even signed an executive order blaming Joe Biden and DEI for the tragedy. That’s something a fucking child does when he gets caught stealing from the cookie jar and wants to get ahead of the facts by pinning it on his sister. Pathetic.

Politics and the blame game have always waded into the flotsam of disasters. We saw that play out in Southern California as parts of Los Angeles burned. But there used to be a “timeout” to mourn, a brief period to focus on loss of life first, then the politics. There was space for empathy – real thoughts and actual prayers.

In D.C. there was virtually no pause to reflect on the names and faces who shared a collective final breath. People were dead, blown apart in a fireball over the nation’s capital, and it was as if they were just more collateral damage in our festering political war.

This is where we are now. A nation once defined by community and compassion now fractured by pandemic isolation, digital echo chambers, and the relentless tribalism of identity politics.

Empathy is a fragile thing. It can’t survive if we stay hidden behind screens and separated by algorithms. Empathy requires being with people, talking to them and understanding them. We don’t need to agree with people to have empathy – agreement has nothing to do with the other person at all. Empathy is caring about someone else because you share a human connection, not an ideological one.

But outrage is easier than understanding. Every crisis is now an excuse to reaffirm our own righteousness.

Blame is easy. It’s the dominion of cowards and fools. It’s for people with no grasp on their own mortality.

But trust me, as someone who has seen mortality’s face up close more than once, there’s no universal measure of a lifetime.

Could be 100 years, 80 or 48. You could have a decade more, five years or a few months.

Or you could be on approach to Reagan National Airport, sending a routine text to your husband who has dinner waiting for you on the kitchen table.

“We’re landing in 20 minutes.”

Politics is inevitable. But there’s a time and a place.