“…America soars when we look out for one another and we take care of each other, when we root for one another's success …and try to build something better for generations to come, that's why we do what we do. That's the whole point of public service.” --President Barack Obama
I write this essay on an overcast humid Saturday afternoon in Minneapolis, where just hours ago, at the majestic downtown Basilica of Saint Mary, Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark were remembered and laid to rest. The Hortmans were assassinated two weeks ago by a gunman posing as a police officer. The shooter had just come from the home of Minnesota Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette Hoffman, where they were also shot. They are still recovering from their injuries.
There are so many awful details that surround this heartbreaking event. The Hortmans leave behind two adult children, who’ll now be without their parents, no mom or dad for the years ahead. The killing took place in a relatively quiet suburb town of the Twin Cities. Is any place safe from gun violence? The accused stalked his victims for weeks, surveilling their homes, noting their movements. The killing was pre-meditated and meticulously planned.
But to me, what is most chilling and frightening about these cruel acts, is that when he was apprehended the shooter was found in possession of a “hit list” with the names of several dozen other state and federal public officials.
Why did these office holders and agency heads and government workers deserve death in the warped and cruel mind of the assassin? What united the dead, killed, injured, and threatened, in life and in death?
They were public servants.
They dedicated their professional lives to serving the public and contributing to the common good. They practiced public service, the call and vocation to serve the people. To work not for some extravagant amount of money, stock options or six figure bonuses. They worked in and for the government. And even though there are plenty of loud-mouthed pols and grandstanding pundits who love nothing better than to tear down and demonize government, the truth is we all need government and its public servants.
We need services like healthcare, first responders, public schools, and universities. We needs laws to shape a civilized society. For at its best government is a direct reflection of the will of the people it serves. Government helps to provide a social framework for what it means to be in community, in a town or city, in a state or a country.
And when our culture produces psychopaths who take it upon themselves to assassinate and threaten public servants, we are all in very big trouble. Because government, and representatives like Hortman and Hoffman: they aren’t “they.”
Public servants and the government: these institutions and folks are finally us. Our neighbors and friends. The person we share a church pew with on Sunday morning. They coach Little League baseball and volunteer at the soup kitchen.
Like Liz, my local town librarian, who provides a place and space for folks of all ages to expand their minds and hearts through knowledge. The government is found in two public servant in the church I serve, Kate and Angie, who for years have served tirelessly on our local school committee, and with great devotion to the kids. Government is police officer James who parks his car at the end of the church driveway and helps to keep our town safe. The government and public service is you and me and us.
When a reporter asked our current President if he would call Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and offer him the full support of the federal government and condolences, this is how our commander in chief answered.
"I think the governor of Minnesota is so whacked out. I'm not calling him,. Why would I call him? ….the guy doesn't have a clue. He's a mess. I could be nice and call, but why waste time?"
Why waste time on compassion, goodness, and basic human decency? If the Oval Office occupant doesn’t know the answer to that question, he doesn’t deserve to be a public servant, at least in this citizen’s eyes.
Rest in peace, Melissa and Mark Hortman. God bless you both.
And thank you for your public service.
(The views expressed in this essay do not necessarily reflect the views of the people and church I serve nor the United Church of Christ.)
The Reverend John F. Hudson is Senior Pastor of the Pilgrim Church, United Church of Christ, in Sherborn, Massachusetts (pilgrimsherborn.org). He blogs at sherbornpastor.blogspot.com and is a resident scholar at the Collegeville Institute at Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. For twenty-five years he was a columnist whose essays appeared in newspapers throughout Massachusetts and Rhode Island. He has served churches in New England since 1989. For comments, please be in touch: pastorjohn@pilgrimsherborn.org.
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