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In Memoriam: Elijah Cummings’ Sacrifice Was For The Healing of the Nation
By Kevin C. Peterson
There was something most inalterably and stunningly beautiful about the passing of Congressman Elijah Cummings yesterday — his demise happening at a hospice in Maryland between the hours of midnight and morning.
Anyone’s demise is, somehow, never actually a thing about which his or her loved ones can fully embrace because on a fundamental level the deceased remain desired by the living and their absence is always acutely felt.
But a life rendered with such purpose and sacrifice as offered by Congressman Cummings becomes, in itself, an act of transcendence. Such a life — extended before the community and to friends — becomes immensely redemptive and manifestly gorgeous.
The accolades and praise now appropriately flow in the wake of Cummings’ death: They mark and measure a great public servant whose influence extended beyond the boundaries of his congressional district, which significantly comprises the city of Baltimore and also features small townships like Columbus at its south, Mount Airy at the extreme west, Eldersburg at the neck collar and Pikesville at the heart center.
His district is complex, including the crime and blight in Baltimore that was so searingly sketched into the American mind…
