With most speechless as the fire raged, Trump tweeted his expertise in brute-force firefighting.
By Kathleen Parker
The Washington Post
At least he recognized the urgency.
As the world gasped in horror at the sight of Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral burning in a cataclysmic moment, the president of the United States imparted these words of wisdom: “Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly!”
Well, Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Could we possibly be more banal?
Ever too-soon to the tweet, Donald Trump didn’t think before typing; or worse, he did. Mightn’t a clever president — or one of his staffers — suffer through a brief Google search before launching? Or, better, skip the Quick-Fix-It blurb and say something normal? How about: America’s heart breaks for Notre Dame. Instead, the French civil defense agency tweeted back that “water-bombing” the 850-year-old cathedral could “lead to the collapse of the entire structure.”
Pope Francis, whose words the Catholic world especially wanted to hear, waited several hours before offering his considered remarks in a public letter to the archbishop of Paris. Appropriately, Francis expressed sadness and offered prayers. No mention of a squadron of angels dragging tidal waves to Paris to extinguish the flames.
Meanwhile, the rest of the world watched in silence, muted by the horror of the unthinkable: the disintegration of one of the world’s greatest monuments. The fire consumed much of the roof’s wooden latticework, which was called “the forest” because it took 52 acres of oak trees to build it. Begun in 1163 during the reign of King Louis VII, the cathedral took nearly 200 years to construct. It only took 12 hours of blistering flames to reduce its core to ashes.
https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/parker-why-notre-dame-left-most-of-us-at-a-loss-for-words/
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