In a world where the morning news is often tinted with doom and gloom, let’s take a moment to bask in the quirky lightness of being an American—and a Republican at that. There’s something fundamentally uplifting about the joy that comes from sticking to one’s roots, especially during times when the world seems a bit topsy-turvy. The idea here isn’t that the world’s problems disappear but rather that we choose to look beyond them. Why, you ask? Because, as this commentary rightly points out, true joy isn’t about aligning with the ever-changing whims of the day. It’s about holding on to values that go beyond oneself.
Imagine little Eloise, unable to string a sentence together, and yet, instinctively knowing what to do with a mask at just six months old. Her reaction paints a funny picture of how some things are, perhaps, unchangeably human. Even then she knew what many grown-ups, led by the likes of Dr. Fauci, could never quite understand—sometimes the best place for a mask is indeed the trash. Fast-forward to five years old, and nothing has changed. Eloise is still out there taking a playful stand, adding her small but mighty voice to the chorus of conservative common sense.
Republicans, they say, look beyond themselves, focusing on family, community, and those little slices of faith that make life meaningful. In contrast, there’s a peculiar tendency among some on the left to be utterly fascinated with themselves. Perhaps it’s their insatiable quest to discover what they truly feel like—every single day. Yet, this kind of self-absorption often leaves them tangled up in soy lattes and proverbial litter boxes of internal confusion. Maybe that’s why they spill their cappuccinos while we’re busy raising the next generation of well-grounded kids.
The recent past made us all face challenges, but for some, it meant choosing deep-seated joy over temporary setbacks. The Republican way of finding happiness by building families and shunning the frivolous really does hold a magnifying glass to the glaring differences in ideology. Why fret over fickle feelings when you can celebrate new lives and new hopes? After all, there’s a scientific and spiritual blend of truth in the saying that investing in others brings the greatest satisfaction.
So while some people keep searching for the “real” them, picking new versions as easily as socks, the rest are finding peace in having something bigger to believe in. Maybe Eloise never said it out loud, but she’s shown what many in the Republican party believe: that joy isn’t something you chase. It’s something you live, one mask-free, laughter-filled day at a time. And who knows, someday, she just might look Fauci in the eye—while standing taller than his legacy—and beam with the wisdom of lessons learned from wise, freedom-loving parents.
