February 5, 2036, 10:42 a.m.
President Daniel Bennett looked out at the thousands of mourners in Washington’s National Cathedral who had come to pay their last respects to President Aida Pendamai. She had succumbed on January 31 to the cancer that had relapsed the previous autumn. Daniel, Aida’s vice president for almost seven years, had been serving as president since her resignation on January 7. Although he felt honored to be asked by Aida’s family to give a eulogy for his long-time friend, it was a task he dreaded. He wondered if his words would be adequate for one of the most extraordinary people he’d known during his 66 years on Earth.
Although the liturgy for the dead in the Episcopal Church is an Easter liturgy and is thus characterized by joy, Daniel was feeling considerably more sorrow than joy as he stood behind the large ambo. He’d already spoken about the personal impact of Aida’s passing on her grieving husband, two children, and other family members and close friends. He’d also shared some of his favorite memories of Aida from their early days in the Senate many years ago, their tough but civil battle for their party’s nomination for President in 2028, their successful campaigns for President and Vice President in 2028 and 2032, and their working together in the White House for almost seven years.
“One of Aida’s favorite prayers, and mine, too, is from Saint Francis of Assisi,” Daniel said as his eyes swept the congregation in the packed cathedral. “‘Make me an instrument of peace. Where there’s hatred, let me sow love. Where there’s darkness, let me sow light.’ And, as we know, Aida did sow love and light and was an instrument of peace throughout her incredible life. And never more so than near its end, when she was the architect of and driving force behind the Camp David Covenant.” He paused and looked down at the heads of state and other dignitaries near the front of the cathedral, and he smiled at two men who were sitting next to each other. “Who would have thought ten years ago, even five years ago, that the Prime Minister of Israel would be sitting with the President of Palestine at this solemn service in a Christian church?” The Israeli prime minister and Palestinian president nodded and grasped each other’s hands. “As Jesus said in the Gospel of Matthew, ‘Blessed be the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.’
“Many people thought the Camp David Covenant was an ‘impossible dream.’ But Aida knew it was possible.” Daniel looked again at the dignitaries below. They included all living past presidents and vice presidents of the United States. He focused on an elderly man in that group and smiled at him. “When my friend President Bush eulogized his father in this sacred place almost 20 years ago, he said of President George H. W. Bush, ‘He looked for the good in each person, and he usually found it.’ I think that’s true of Aida also, George. She looked beyond our faults and sought out the good within each of us.” The former president returned Daniel’s smile and nodded.
“Not only did Aida personally sow love and light, she steadfastly believed that the United States should be—must be— ‘a light for the world.’ That wasn’t just some campaign slogan. She lived that belief, with every fiber of her being. Her efforts toward peace in the world, battling hunger and homelessness, and preserving nature and the environment for current and future generations are testaments to her beliefs.” He paused. All right, Aida, you made me promise to say this today… “And thus, one of the best ways we can honor her memory is to ratify the Toronto Climate Agreement next week.” There were many smiles and nods among the assembled guests, but also many frowns. The Toronto Agreement was one of the most contentious upcoming votes in Congress. Daniel had sworn to Aida that he would do ‘whatever it takes’ to get it ratified. And it might take an awful lot, Daniel thought apprehensively.
“As President Aida Pendamai is laid to rest this afternoon at Arlington National Cemetery, we will say our final farewells. But we will never forget her, and we must never forget what she stood for, and strove for throughout her life of service to this country: peace for the world; faith in the goodness within each person; hope that what might seem an impossible dream can become a reality; and love for one another, which, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said many years ago, is ‘the greatest force in the universe.’ As she showed her love for us, for the people of the United States of America and the entire world, let us remember her by showing our love for each other.”
* * *
Aida had requested a short graveside service at Arlington, without military honors as she had not served in the Armed Forces of the United States. She and her husband, a retired Air Force colonel who would one day be buried with his beloved wife of 34 years, had selected the same simple white marble headstone that marked the final resting place of millions of other Americans in the nation’s national cemeteries. The Bishop of Washington from the National Cathedral led a short prayer service attended by family and close friends. When it was time for the Committal, Aida’s husband cast a handful of soil onto her coffin, and as other mourners did likewise, the bishop read from the Book of Common Prayer:
In sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life
through our Lord Jesus Christ, we commend to Almighty
God our sister Aida, and we commit her body to the ground;
earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. The Lord bless
her and keep her, the Lord make his face to shine upon her
and be gracious to her, the Lord lift up his countenance upon
her and give her peace. Amen.
Then, after joining hands to say The Lord’s Prayer and a final prayer and dismissal by the bishop, the mourners returned quietly to their vehicles for the short drive to the White House for the funeral reception.
To Be Continued…
(Image courtesy of Freepik)
