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Cynthia V. Ward's avatar

Trump’s illness offers a real test of each person’s empathic capacity: Can you feel concern and compassion for the president as a human being, while vigorously disagreeing with particular policies or with things that he says? Seems like we used to be able to do that more easily. When President Reagan was shot, for example, my memory is that the country, across party lines, was not only stunned but also deeply concerned for his welfare. That was only 40 years ago.

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Brandon Zicha's avatar

On some Christian groups I drift in there has been an interesting perspective voiced.. to me both amusing and potentially cautionary. It goes something like this:

Now we are going to find out if we are dealing with Saul or Nebuchadnezzar... if he is very sick and loses or or dies, he is Saul, and is getting just deserts. if he lives and his diagnosis works to his advantage he is Nebuchadnezzar, and we are getting our just deserts.

Besides that as a Slav derived individual and comparative religion junky I never fail to chuckle at such darkLy humorous bible joke, I think there is something deeper about humility and the dangers of Schadenfreude that is often missed: it’s not easy to determine very often who exactly is getting a comeuppance.

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