Rodriguez: Sometimes we sacrifice for a greater cause

It’s been a Shakespearean summer in many ways as I brush up on classic literature for the upcoming school year. Shakespeare said, “The world is a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”

Protagonists and antagonists.

As I read Shakespeare’s play “Julius Caesar” recently, it brought to mind the political theatrics going on in our country. I thought of Julius Caesar and his enemy, Brutus, and of Brutus and Cassius, both friends and then later enemies of Caesar, but with different motives for their rebellion in 44 B.C.

Helena Rodriguez

Then I thought of Saint Paul and how he was knocked off of his high horse, but in Biblical terms. This was an act of mercy by God because Saint Paul honestly believed he was doing the right thing. When he was knocked of his horse, Saint Paul was blinded for a little while but then he saw the light.

And then I thought of Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders. This may sound like a stretch, but hang on.

Each of the above men handled internal and external conflicts in different ways. One man, Cassius, accepted bribery in his betrayal of Caesar, the most powerful man during Roman times. But Brutus, he was praised by Marc Anthony as being “the most noblest Roman of them all,” even after his betrayal of Caesar. Why? Because Brutus didn’t help assassinate Caesar out of envy, but because he honestly thought that he was doing what was best for Rome. He loved Caesar, but he thought Caesar was becoming too powerful, and as the Shakespearean play reads of Brutus, “His love for Rome was even stronger.”

Now, let’s move on to Ted and Bernie. Bernie said terrible things about his once-rival, Hillary Clinton. She said horrible things about him. Bernie vowed to fight her, but then last week, he endorsed her. Though Ted was booed by his own Republican party for not endorsing Donald Trump, Ted was hailed as a hero by syndicated columnist Ruben Navarrette. Why? Because Ted didn’t cave in to internal and external pressure.

“What the senator (Cruz) really did was inject decency, standards and integrity into a GOP nominating process that has abandoned all three in a rush to provide a united front against presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton,” Navarrette wrote in his July 24 newspaper column.

The Democratic party rushed to stage a united front, and how it backfired on them earlier this week as Sanders’ own supporters refused to listen to his requests to “go with the flow” and likewise endorse Hillary, even amidst alleged email leaks of the Democratic headquarters which suggested a rigged nomination process.

Some people say that Ted committed political suicide by not endorsing his rival, Trump. Only time will tell. I bet Ted can sleep better at night than Bernie. He satisfied his conscience, not the crowd. Perhaps it is as Shakespeare said, “A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.”

Sometimes we have to risk being the fool, rather than being cool. We have to sacrifice ourselves … for the greater cause.

Helena Rodriguez is a Portales native. Contact her at:

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