A Picture Says A Thousand Truths - Nobel Worthy Photograph

 

Congratulations go out to the Trump Administration for staging a snapshot of how the current commander in chief handles a crisis as it unfolds in the historic Capitol's oval office, an office of power and leadership.

Now look closely and let the dynamics of this snapshot sink in. The background appears to show men and women concerned while attempting to respond to a medical emergency event occurring next to the President's oval office desk. Those first responders do not appear to be trained medical personnel but colleagues of the man experiencing a medical crisis. 

One colleague is holding the man's ankles with his expensively shoed feet pointing heels to ceiling, while another is verbally addressing him to determine his coherency and what ails him. All responding body languages are drawn downward toward their colleague lying on his back on the floor of the oval office, legs raised, knees bent, ankles being held. Only his pants legs and shoes are visible to the camera.

It is a moment frozen in time in the office of what many call the most powerful office on the planet. 

In the foreground stands one unconcerned, disinterested and/or detached man standing with his back to the crisis unfolding just a few feet behind him. This man appears to be suffering not a medical crisis but a mental/psychological one. While others respond with concern and empathy, this man wearing a lengthy red tie seems desperately attempting to avoid any acknowledgement of the crisis occurring. He is the commanding occupier of the oval office, an office of power and leadership, and yet he looks cognitively absent and anything but commanding at a time that calls for stepping up to possibly help save a life. 

For all intents and purposes the commander in chief has checked out of any duties to lead during a crisis and instead has chosen to go dark and invisible. Perhaps it's not a choice. Perhaps it's his medication, or maybe he is suffering from a condition which prevents him from performing any duties expected from a commanding position.

We who are viewing this picture can only guess what thoughts, if any, are running through the mind of the red tie wearing commander. His non-reaction to the crisis unfolding behind brings back memories of senior dementia patients in a nursing home, standing unattached to the unfolding code-blue emergency as response team doctors and nurses rush by to revive or tend to a medical emergency.

If but for the commander standing unattached to the moment, this picture taken in his office could have been noteworthy for reasons of courage and leadership in the face of crisis. Instead, the commander's frozen stance, vacant eyes and turned-down mouth give a scary peek into the man who currently occupies the most powerful office in the free world. 

Why is it so Scary you might ask?  It Wasn't Staged!

The Truth is scarier than fiction.  .  .