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Elijah Cummings, Dancing with Angels
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 by Frank Shortt
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Born in 1951 to a sharecropper family, Elijah Cummings was a precocious youngster who was involved in school politics from the get-go. It is not known, at present, how he managed to pay his way through the many schools he attended, except for maybe a hard-work ethic. He arose through the ranks quickly with his booming voice and affirmative ways.

He was on several committees during his sojourn in Congress from 1966 to present, namely:

-Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

-Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

-Select Committee on Benghazi

Cummings had plenty of pull with his constituents and usually ended up on any committee or sub-committee that he felt would benefit his Congressional District. He was a constant critic of Donald Trump and his policies. It is not known for sure that he ever tried to work with Trump in a conciliatory nature. He usually painted Trump with a harsh brush stroke.

It is almost funny to note that in the condolences sent by Trump to Cummings he said:

My warmest condolences to the family and many friends of Congressman Elijah Cummings. I got to see first-hand the strength, passion and wisdom of this highly respected political leader. His work and voice on so many fronts will be very hard, if not impossible, to replace!” This is kind of hard to fathom since he accused Cummings recently, “If he spent more time in Baltimore, maybe he could help clean up this very dangerous & filthy place,” the president’s tweet continued.  “Why is so much money sent to the Elijah Cummings district when it is considered the worst run and most dangerous anywhere in the United States? No human being would want to live there. Where is all this money going? How much is stolen? Investigate this corrupt mess immediately!” He also stated that “Cummings’ Baltimore –area District is a disgusting rodent and rat infested mess!” Harsh words from a sitting president of the United States, don’t you think?

In August 2019 Mr. Cummings’ house was burglarized with Trump saying, “Really bad news, the Baltimore house of Elijah Cummings was robbed. Too bad! Did Trump really mean that it was too bad?

Political rivalry has taken a really bad downturn. I cannot understand how that these people can even look themselves in the mirror when they go home at night!

Another thing that saddens me as an American is that Elijah Cummings’ body is not even cold yet and his long-standing Party has not stopped the battle long enough to show their “well respected and highly honored constituent” the benefit of political silence until his body is placed beneath the soil from which he came! They have only continued to ‘Thump Trump’! This is such a shame on our Congressional leaders!

During the Cohen hearings Mr. Cummings stated, "When we’re dancing with the angels, the question we’ll be asked: In 2019, what did we do to make sure we kept our democracy intact? Did we stand on the sidelines and say nothing?" he asked.

How many more leaders of our country will be “dancing with the angels” before they wake to the reality that they need to work together for a strong democracy?

As I took a walk this morning I was approached from behind by a member of my community who was muttering to himself, “They turned our water off, my wife didn’t even show me the bill in time.” I calmly placed my hand on his shoulder and asked him if he had anything else to be thankful for? He replied to the affirmative. I said, “Take a deep breath, step back and count those blessings!” He actually did both things that I suggested. Then I told him to go home and talk civilly to his wife, and things would look better through cooperation in the family. He thanked me and complimented me on always being there for him. We parted ways with a much calmer citizen.

How much better this country would be if our leaders would cooperate instead of bashing one another?