I was stunned while watching the news on a recent night. Network footage showed Kamala Harris and Tim Walz arriving in Savanah, Ga., to begin their two-day bus tour across South Georgia. Waiting at the bus were almost two dozen students from Savannah State University, an HBCU.
Obviously, they were excited to greet the first Black female candidate for president. Harris and Walz talked to the group — and to individuals in the group — for more than seven minutes. Naturally, someone from the campaign suggested a photograph.
That photo was widely distributed by the media.
Harold Ivan Smith
But there is video that also tells a story and is worth more than a thousand words. Walz had been standing next to Harris during the conversation but immediately moved to the back row for the photo — he was the one Caucasian in the photo and you have to look closely to see him. Imagine that: A candidate for vice president being willing to move to the back in a photo.
After official photos and a few selfies had been taken, Harris headed to the bus but Walz was the last to board. He didn’t want to cut short his conversation with a student.
“Wow,” I said out loud.
The next morning, I spent time tracking down footage to reconfirm what I had seen. I discovered the media provided wider coverage of the candidates stopping at Hinesville High School to hear and speak to the band. Actually, Reuters ran this headline: “Harris-Walz Georgia bus tour kicks off with high school visit.”
No, the tour began with two candidates speaking to a group of minority college students.
After the news anchor moved on to other stories, I recalled another “piece of video” that told a story of another candidate in this race. On a May afternoon in 2017, the leaders of the member nations of NATO gathered for a group photo. Afterward, one could have glanced at the photo and have been unaware of the rude incident seconds before the photo was snapped and flashed around the world. The video, however, had captured the seconds before the photo was taken.
No way — no way! — was Donald Trump, then president of the United States, going to be in the back of this photo. So, he nudged forward — pushing Dusko Markovic, prime minister of Montenegro, out of his way with no audible “Excuse me” or “Pardon me,” no “Sorry I need to get to the front row.” Supporters might counter that, at least, he didn’t say, “Get out of my way!”
What gentlemanly grace Markovic demonstrated in his first meeting of NATO he had attended.
Actually, Trump was entitled by NATO protocol to stand on the front row. However, “entitled” is a far more expansive permissive word in Trump’s lexicon.
Mini-seconds before the “Say cheese” moment, the president of the United States was rearranging his coat and tie so he would look “good” in the photo.
Two photos — widely seen — but two videos not so widely seen. My father often said, while watching the news, “There’s more to that story than they’re letting on.” Sometimes there is more to a photo. You can tell a lot about photos by closely staring into them, examining them for nuance. Readers may have done that with old family photos.
There under the large Z on the side of the campaign bus —Harris-Walz — stands a man running for vice president. A humble, likeable man.
I thought of words in Philippians 2: But Jesus “made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself.”
In my imagination I picture a photographer trying to get a group photo of Jesus and those disciples. Where would everyone stand? Front row? Back row? Perhaps the photographer said, “OK, guys, taller ones on the back, please.” Would Jesus be at the center? Perhaps, perhaps not. We do know that two of the disciples had once requested special privileges asking Jesus, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” So, I have to consider that James and John would have elbowed their way to the front center; perhaps, one on each side of Jesus, grinning.
Back to the audio of the video of the bus tour launch. No one said, “Ah, Tim, could you move to the back row. Please.” Walz did that without prodding. No big deal since it was “just” a photo of two candidates posing with a group of college students. One photo in tens of thousands that will be taken during the campaign.
To be honest, I found Tim Walz likeable but knew little about him. But seven minutes of footage cheered my heart. Maybe, just maybe, Walz is what our country needs in Washington: a man who makes of himself “no reputation.” And, therefore, doesn’t spend a lot of time “fluffing” his reputation for prime time.
Harold Ivan Smith is thanatologist and independent scholar. For 18 years he served on the teaching faculty of Saint Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City, Mo. He earned graduate degrees from Scarritt College, Vanderbilt University, and a doctor of ministry degree from Asbury Theological Seminary. His writings include A Decembered Grief, On Grieving the Death of a Father; Grieving the Death of a Mother; When You Don’t Know What to Say; When a Child You Know Is Grieving, When Your People Are Grieving: Leading in Times of Loss.