May 2003
Rating: G
The West Wing belongs to Sorkin, Wells
and Schlamme. And a corporation or two.
Minor spoilers for "Red Mass".
It isn't that happiness is rare in these corridors of power.
Laughter can be heard echoing from offices: the press room is a
constant source of hilarity. Everyone
knows that CJ can hold an audience better than most professional
comedians. It's a skill that comes in
handy when you want to deflect a roomful of press from the real story — she can
still raise a chuckle with her stories of the President coming to a 'sudden arborial halt' whilst cycling.
And Charlie. You just know when he's happy. There's this aura around him, especially when
he's had a hand in whatever has made someone else happy. He thinks so much of others, and their
happiness rubs off on him.
But happiness here is brief.
Fleeting.
Successes are followed immediately by disasters, moments of joy by
national tragedies. Days of national
celebration become tinged by personal crises.
All emotions are fleeting, here.
Nothing stays the same for long.
For some, that's what makes the job worth doing. It weighs down on others, more than they'd
like to admit. The pace is frantic, so I
guess I shouldn't expect anything to last for long. But it seems so unfair that their moments of
joy should be so brief. The senior staff
will file through the outer office, joking and as carefree as they've been since
they were hired. You'll hear the banter
from the Oval, but then Charlie's phone will ring, and his face will fall, and
he'll have to take a piece of paper into the President. I couldn't do his job. I just couldn't.
Happiness is brief, and you know as you hear the laughter floating
out from Toby's office that he'll be shouting again soon, that Donna's smiles
can turn serious in an instant. That the
adrenaline-charged times when the President is so exited that his words spill
out over themselves are usually followed by momentary slack-jawed disbelief, as
some other message on some other topic is brought to him.
It's not just the senior staff.
The President was meeting with Mike Casper and the security team. They'd just managed to arrest the group
responsible for the
There are only moments of happiness. That's the way it is in this job. Euphoria turns swiftly to tragedy, and even
in tragedy, there is no time to pause and grieve.
Life goes on. The political
wheel keeps turning. And you find
yourself clutching at the memories of CJ's face lit up by her smile, of Toby's
quiet chuckle, of the way Charlie's eyes sparkle when he grins. Because sooner or later the
sparkle will be the result of tears.
That's the way it is in this job.