There are two prevailing theories about the origin of the term “face the music”, a phrase widely used to express the experience of having to face the consequences of your actions and accept the punishment.
The first theory stems from advice given to stage actors debuting in the early 20th century American theatre. A new, generally terrified, performer was advised to “face the music” which meant looking out over the orchestra as a way of confronting a terrifying audience. In this way, it related more to dealing with a fearful situation and less to standing up for a punishment.
The more likely origin is military. When a disgraced member of the Army was expelled from duty, he was “drummed out of the core” or marched out to the strains of military music. Thus, he faced the music that accompanied his punishment.
I’m thinking today of a slightly different use of the phrase as it is unlikely, at the moment, that we will ever be capable of simply drumming the east wing destroyer out of the west wing. I am thinking of an actual song that might best describe the actions of the day.
For instance, I look at the reflecting pool debacle and think of Neil Sedaka’s “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do”.
Although, for now, the breaking up of the badly engineered and planned “American flag blue” paint cover seems pretty easy. Chunks of it are floating to the surface, disturbing the thick algae cover and making great souvenirs for those non-vandals who are rejoicing at yet another gaffe by the white house, and who risk arrest, now, for making off with a flaking peel.
This fiasco has provided the perfect metaphor for the oval office squatter’s long list of failures, but, in terms of “breaking up”…daily reports show him rudely slashing ties with every one of our allies, one by one. His well-publicized lies pitifully describing Italy’s Prime Minister begging to take a picture with him (oh, yeah, given how handsome he is), his schoolyard threats hurled at Iran’s leadership, along with his petulant critique and abandonment of our NATO allies, all show how this unprecedented embarrassment to America, now residing at the top of the shakiest pile of no-talent goof-ups in history, doesn’t have a clue.
He chooses not to recognize that every one of his insults will lead to having to face the truth of that breakup song: that he will miss us when we’re gone. He doesn’t see how his downward and demented spiral of isolating himself further and further from what used to be his (and America’s) friends has resulted in losing more and more of us.
He has lost millions of supporters and gained…none. His numbers go in only one direction. It is, indeed, “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”. And we will dance as the head of this regime is forced, finally, to face the music and the message put forth by Stonewall Jackson in Waterloo: (some irony there, both in the name of the singer and in the Napoleonic reference): “Every puppy has his day. Everybody has to pay. Everybody has to meet his Waterloo”.
Compare and Contrast
Likely most of us have come across the exam question, somewhere in our studies, asking us to “compare and contrast” two eras in history or two American authors or two approaches to governing. At least for the latter, last Friday’s opening of the Obama Presidential Center and Museum made it a virtual breeze.
In their remarks, both the former First Lady and the former President, without ever having to mention the name of the current wrecking ball in the white house, gave us the perfect examples.
Michelle Obama spoke of her husband’s “stubborn optimism and unflinching courage”, “dazzling brilliance and unpretentious decency,” “ferocious work ethic and absolutely unshakable moral fiber.” She didn’t have to say a word about the current resident who has none of these attributes to lead us straight to the comparison. And then, Obama’s remarks put the lid on it.
Speaking of his early hopes, he said, “I was possessed with this abiding faith that if we could give people more of a say in the forces that govern their lives, if we could bridge some of the differences that drove us apart, then we could build an America where everyone counts, and everyone has a fair shot, and everyone belongs, even a mixed race kid with a weird back story and a name nobody could pronounce.” He then tied it to our 250th birthday. “…out of the fire and steel of a revolution, a different story took flight on this continent, a declaration that we are all created equal, endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights, and that in the newly independent United States, there will be no kings or lords, no serfs or subjects, but only citizens, each of us free to pursue our own version of happiness and able to determine our collective fate through an elected representative government. …And a belief that qualities of character, honesty, integrity, kindness, compassion, a sense of duty and honor, those things matter in our public dealings, just as they do in our private lives.”
And therein lies all the difference. Obama governed for the good of the people as he saw it. His successor acts only for himself and for his own gain.
So, ask yourself, which of these two examples would you choose to follow? Which of these touches and ennobles your spirit, makes your heart sing? As the ancient Jewish sage, Hillel the Elder, reminded us, we need both self-care and care for others: “If I am not for myself,” he wrote, “who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I?”
Given the two examples set before us on June 19, 2026, we can certainly compare and contrast. What am I? More and more of us, each day, are rejecting the cramped, selfish, self-dealing model in the white house and, instead, opting to be part of a community–one that cares for its neighbors, wants a better world for its children, wants them to live to be adults and not to be sacrificed in some foreign war started by an imbecile without a plan, wants just a bit of fairness and a chance to make it.
Compare. Contrast. Choose.
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