These days, the bad words in my house aren’t the typical ones of my upbringing; the words that somebody a long time ago said sounded ‘bad’…slang words for sex and excrement and the place where sinners might end up. No, those are passé and used to make a point if necessary or maybe to reinforce a frustrating moment. The ‘dirty’ words in my house are more nefarious and destructive like “avarice” “hubris” “fear” and the like. Don’t get me wrong, we still use and discuss the “A” “H” and “F” words; they just make us cringe and wonder how we’re not smart enough as American’s to realize their control on us. We hope they become verbal relics of the past and that someday the history books will consider them so. Maybe the texts of the future would read something like this: “…there was a time when the nation was awash in avarice and it drove the decisions of the powerful healthcare industry…” or “…it was not uncommon for the hubris of the day to allow a particular group of people to blindly follow the rhetoric of the hyperbolic media…” or even, “Fear caused people to exercise their rage in public settings saying the unthinkable about change advocates without facts or reason…”
It’s easy to dream about what we might become as the free people of a country that has cognitive dissonance about its “greatness.” Currently, it can be argued that opportunities aren’t equal and the current outcomes are disastrous. If we are writing our own story then we have surely found the ultimate climactic moment where something must swing us the other way. The extremists are bashing the president because they are told to do so making it unlikely that his leadership will be able to move the boulder of despair. It must come from each individual who cares enough to do what’s right for the sustainability of the collective. Spewing invectives on the capitol steps will only further inflame those who desire an “us and them” mentality. This is exactly what’s tearing us apart. Coming together is now the biggest challenge of our nearly mythological plot. We must agree that we all largely care about the same things, and that sacrifice can make those principles available to all who are willing to work for them. If we don’t, then we may, using a taboo word from my past, be damned.
As your father I am always intensely interested in what ever you do. Your writings always serve as much food for thought for me. Your passion for expression, whether in the written or spoken word, your poems, your music, or your life’s accomplishments far exceeds anything I could have dreamed up for you to do or become. You know I don’t always agree with you but don’t every quit doing what you do. Your conscience is aroused.
For most of us our conscience needs tickling (or a good kick) from time to time to stay alive and active. A conscience can simply grow numb from the daily grind (or the amount of debt being amassed for future generations to pay down which I won’t have to worry about but your generation and your kid’s generation and their kid’s generation, ad infinitum). Keep tickling.
When man achieves power it doesn’t take long for ruin to set in. All of what we know of history shows the rise and fall of men, indeed entire nations, indicating to me this is a cycle of earthly life. Good men trying to do good; bad men trying to do bad. Being a Christian is the only way I can have ‘hope’ in the eternal future. Because of man I am cynical about the near future.
By: Dad on October 3, 2009
at 4:05 am