All of us have our own standards to live up to. The measure of a man or woman is whether, at crunch time, he or she manages to keep their standards despite the allure of money, sex, power or fame.

The number two person in the last administration was ridiculed and despised by extremists on both sides. Although he did not ask for it, a heavy responsibility for combating a deadly, unknown virus was dumped on him. His role was to faithfully strive for solutions, or to become the fall guy.

Now, we are getting vaccines developed during his tenure. We have plenty of masks to wear and respirators to use. Most of us now understand the meaning of the 2020 term, “social distancing.” And finally, when it came down to doing his job after the recent election, this faithful number two man stood up for what he felt was right and certified the electoral college vote, even at the cost of complete rejection by many he had served.

His reward for his courage? When radicals were smashing their way into the capital, they chanted “hang Mike Pence.” Is that truly the way you feel about this man? Or, do you at least have the integrity to recognize an unsung hero who, humanly speaking, did his best at crunch time to be an instrument of peace.