Emily Dickinson is grateful for Dan Rather’s gallantry
“To Fight Aloud is Very Brave” in a world full of bullies
To fight aloud, is very brave —
But gallanter, I know
Who charge within the bosom
The Cavalry of Woe —Who win, and nations do not see —
Who fall — and none observe —
Whose dying eyes, no Country
Regards with patriot love —We trust, in plumed procession
For such, the Angels go —
Rank after Rank, with even feet —
And Uniforms of snow- Emily Dickinson, “To Fight Aloud is Very Brave”
Dan Rather’s substack feed, “Steady,” smooths a chaotic stream. The April 24, 2022 article, “Standing up to Bullies (and saving democracy)” (credited to Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner) is a characteristically comforting read.
Across the United States, we are facing an epidemic of bullying masquerading as lawmaking. It is an approach to governance, or at least a distorted facsimile of the concept, that is rooted in cruelty. At the national, state, and local levels, we see a toxic brew of bad faith, hypocrisy, and sneering viciousness that is poisoning the wellspring of our democracy…..And like most schoolyard bullies, they seek to target, ostracize, and abuse the most vulnerable and marginalized members of society.
Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner, Steady
I imagine Emily Dickinson in creative seclusion. I picture a woman familiar with ‘bullies’ in New England: well-meaning, or ill, all intruders threatening her intricate universe. Perhaps she fought a war in her own bosom.
Bullies call reclusive women like Emily Dickinson ‘witch’ and proceed to attack them. Garnering power from brutality to others, a particularly skilled bully might even acquire the Dickinson homestead outright, and cheap, once its lonely occupant is driven out.
People like Dan Rather would have spoken up, just as he speaks now. If Emily required visitors to stand on the other side of the door so that she need not see their faces, some would respect her ‘quirks’ while doing what they could to look after her needs. Some would have simply nodded, accepted, and looked with a wary eye at the would-be witch hunters, shooing them away.
Nobody would have known what treasures Emily was concocting, save that tiny circle with whom she shared some piece of her craft.
But for the decency of a community, even that treasure would be lost, and Emily, dragged kicking and screaming to the sanitarium ‘for her own good.’
Bullies can cause a lot of damage even when they are defeated. But the lesson is that they can be beaten.
- Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner, Steady
Indeed. But to me, it’s worth bearing in mind why bullies must be confronted: other Emily Dickinsons abound in this world, in every marginalized community, gallantly charging “the Cavalry of Woe.”
Whatever the state of their struggle, there are those who would take advantage of them. And there must be those willing to step into the gap and look after them wherever they may be. Are they shuddering homeless in a tent nearby?
If our culture is worth saving, it will be because we stood steady to defend those who cannot defend themselves from the bullies — but who can still bring treasures into this world. The Emily Dickinsons, lurking in every marginalized community: such is the emblem and flag worth fighting for.
