A Great Disservice

Except for what is seen on television, many of us in this country have had limited associations with people of color, yet alone people of color in authority.  For some, seeing a black physician or having a black principal is commonplace.  But for a larger part of the country, not so much.  So I guess the amount of vitriol after the election of our first Black president should not surprise me.   Somehow, however it does.  The strength of the hatred evidenced in nonsensical aspersions hurts me, hurts us all.  And the ravings of the likes of Rush Limbaugh and other 'shock' jocks have done nothing but pander to and promote fear and rage and make it easier for others to make horrific statements and get away with them.  These demagogues have done us all a great disservice.

The most vocal of Obama's detractors  express such thinly cloaked animosity (sometimes not cloaked at all) at what often seem, at least to me, non-issues.  Or misconstrued issues.  A woman who lives in my mother's community was passing out leaflets entitled "This is How the Obamas Spend Our Tax Dollars".  It was about the First Lady visiting schools to fight childhood obesity.  And there are so many other examples.  When asked for specifics --"What exactly do you not like about this president"  the retorts are vague and non specific.  "He's going to abolish Medicare".  Not true. "He's a frivolous spender".  Not true, either.  In fact, he's spent less than the two previous administrations.

The anger is real and palpable.   It comes to me that this is not an election between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, but a referendum to remove  Barack Obama whose election four years ago marked a definitive and important milestone in our country's history and presented us all with an opportunity to evolve.    

St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that in negotiations of any type, progress will not be made until both sides  recognize the position of the other as valid.  My present objectives are to do just that.  I will openly and specifically state what I like about 'my' candidate and will abstain from name-calling and ignorant generalizations about 'yours'.  I invite the rest of the country to do the same. 

A Hero Is Much More Than A Sandwich

One commonality we all share is our search for heroes. We look to sports figures, celebrities, politicians, and are frequently disappointed when we learn they have indulged in performance enhancing drugs or scandals. One by one many of these clay soldiers fall.

About eight years ago, I met a friend my husband had made through business. We have been in the company of him and his wife of 50 years several times and always have a good time. The same types of ridiculousness make us laugh, and we share ideologies in many other areas: our children are a source of love and pride; we marvel a the beauty and power of nature; at irony and politics; we teared up when we watched Obama deliver the commencement address at Notre Dame, incredulous at his poise in the face of being jeered.

Several years ago, the husband was diagnosed with ALS. This devastating disease is progressive and aggressive. We've watched his body begin to turn on him and betray him systematically. He now must use a walker, rest after the slightest exertion, and is limited in the places he can frequent as everywhere he goes must be handicapped accessible. Not once has he complained or had a 'my life is so tough' or 'why me' attitude. He talks openly about the changes he is experiencing and considers himself lucky to be able to prepare for the inevitable and say goodbye to those he cares about. We're planning on a cruise to the Maritime Provinces in 2011, and he will join us if he is able. He has not stopped living in anticipation of his demise, but has instead allowed himself to cherish what he has left.

And so it occurs to me that if there is a shortage of heroes maybe we're not looking in the right places. Why choose people we hardly know because of outward appearance, wealth, or the ability to throw a football, or hit a baseball when heroes like our friend are all around us? Come to think of it, why look beyond ourselves , why look to others for heroes when each of us has the power to be one?

Four Little Words

Yesterday, I made progress with the book I'm currently reading -- The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb. I've read his other works, and this, like those is expertly crafted, beautifully written, but it's not a thoroughly pleasant read. I really need to take 'breaks' from the lives of the Quirks, the main characters and their tragic lives, and so I put the book down for a while, put a load of laundry in, and turned on the TV for a bit. That's when I saw it. The commentator on CNN was rehashing Rush Limbaugh's comments about Barack Obama. CNN replayed what Limbaugh said, "...I don't need four hundred words; I can say it in four. I hope he fails." Limbaugh then repeated the four words.

Flabbergasted at his mean tone, I sat there trying to process the statement. This is like saying, "I want the whole country to remain divided, partisan, and caught up in the strife of a failing economy. I want those people teetering on the edge of bankruptcy to lose their homes. I want the banks, the car industry, steel, to fail. Let's continue and increase our dependency on foreign oil, and build up that carbon footprint as much as we can." But then, I thought, maybe that's not what he is saying. Maybe Limbaugh is annoyed that his fellow uber conservative Republicans failed miserably and he wants to give them another whack at it? Maybe he is saying that total chaos and utter poverty are better than having a Democrat for president? Or maybe he is just a miserable, pill-popping, pusillanimous, contentious demagogue.