JOY TO THE WORLD: Peggy

JOY TO THE WORLD: Peggy Noonan writes:

All the journalists and politicians, they are always embarrassed to feel joy when something like this happens. They fear it will show a lack of understanding that history is a heavy and ponderous thing, a big tragedy machine, and all progress is illusory. Celebrating a military triumph–and this was among other things a military triumph–seems to them tantamount to Kiplingism, quaintly ignorant and unhelpfully nationalistic. That’s why everyone on TV today is furrowing his brow. They know joy is the wrong thing to be feeling. It’s unsophisticated.

But normal people don’t have to be sophisticated. They can be normal. And happy. And say what normal Americans say when something great in history happens. ‘Thanks, God. Thanks a lot.’

Thanks, God.