I took this time off from blogging to really, really think about things. What things? Well, stuff. Sometimes other stuff that happens seeps into my bouncy castle of a life and deflates it. I have been unhappy with the world lately- not in that angsty, teenage goth kind of way but in a similar fashion.
I am unhappy with America; I am specifically unhappy with the United States. I am a patriot. I believe in imaginary things like nationalism. I have t-shirts with the American flag. I get teary on memorial day when I am reminded that freedom isn't free. And lately as an American I am furious.
I telephoned my dear friend, Cousin Ian, because I knew that he could give me hope. He is a wonderful man. He works at Cornell by day and by night is a trustee for a credit union that serves those who are under-served by other financial institutions, especially low income, minorities, women, and non-profits. He is a community activist and mentor. He is a bright light, twinkling in the darkness for me.
Last week, the light went out. As I was explaining my frustrations with our country's policies and socioeconomic positions he gently broke it to me that he was not going to tell me how to make it better. "You know C," he said (he has almost from the beginning of our friendship referred to me by a letter), "maybe you should be happy with where we're going."
Say what?!
He was much more eloquent about it but I shall try to paraphrase his point. Maybe this will be a good thing. Maybe what I am experiencing is the fall of our civilization. Cousin Ian wondered what it must have been like for citizens of Rome when it "fell" or when Britain started to lose it's colonial dominance. He figured that it must have been something like what we are experiencing now- apathy, idiocy, decline. When we take a hard look at our country we see people like Sarah Palin on every news channel, snidely referring to Obama as "the professor," as though being intelligent was a dirty thing (yes, yes, I can hear the ivory tower argument) or misappropriating the feminist movement so that it is no longer about equality for all but about voting for women no matter what these women actually stand for even if they are handmaidens of hegemony. I see Sarah Palin waving her rifle on television and making statements that underscore her ignorance of the constitution as well as ignorance of common sense. I see our politicians approving tax cuts that we will NEVER be able to pay back, which will add $700 billion to the federal deficit, which economists of right and left wing factions have all come out to say is madness. I see our countrymen making decisions based on emotion and hysteria.
But Ian says that it is all a good thing. He is tired of fighting and suggests that the fall of the United States is for the better. We have been the superpower for too long. In all these years of policeman to the world and defender of democracy we have destroyed nations, obliterated governments and become reviled by the people who we are claiming to be helping. Plants and animals disappear to feed us and let's not even begin to talk about what our petroleum lust has done to the world. In the past few years we have weathered great economic collapses and wars that have become increasingly costly over greater amounts of time.
With Sarah Palin and American hysteria, Ian figures that our demise is imminent. He thinks that I should relax and let it happen because we aren't any good at being a superpower anyway. Let someone else take up the mantle. He is doing his part but not fighting anymore. He is stepping up his community involvement and tells me that his friends have also stepped back from politics and are focusing their efforts on making their community more sustainable to weather the eventual national level collapse. And yes, he has read "Atlas Shrugged" and no, he doesn't think it relates. He isn't going to be waiting on his roof for the end of the world, either, but he has given up trying to stop what he feels is inevitable. He is more relaxed now that he doesn't care and wants me to feel the freedom from burden of being an American. He looks forward to the time when we will rebuild. "C," he tells me, "Be happy; it is a good thing."
I am unhappy with America; I am specifically unhappy with the United States. I am a patriot. I believe in imaginary things like nationalism. I have t-shirts with the American flag. I get teary on memorial day when I am reminded that freedom isn't free. And lately as an American I am furious.
I telephoned my dear friend, Cousin Ian, because I knew that he could give me hope. He is a wonderful man. He works at Cornell by day and by night is a trustee for a credit union that serves those who are under-served by other financial institutions, especially low income, minorities, women, and non-profits. He is a community activist and mentor. He is a bright light, twinkling in the darkness for me.
Last week, the light went out. As I was explaining my frustrations with our country's policies and socioeconomic positions he gently broke it to me that he was not going to tell me how to make it better. "You know C," he said (he has almost from the beginning of our friendship referred to me by a letter), "maybe you should be happy with where we're going."
Say what?!
He was much more eloquent about it but I shall try to paraphrase his point. Maybe this will be a good thing. Maybe what I am experiencing is the fall of our civilization. Cousin Ian wondered what it must have been like for citizens of Rome when it "fell" or when Britain started to lose it's colonial dominance. He figured that it must have been something like what we are experiencing now- apathy, idiocy, decline. When we take a hard look at our country we see people like Sarah Palin on every news channel, snidely referring to Obama as "the professor," as though being intelligent was a dirty thing (yes, yes, I can hear the ivory tower argument) or misappropriating the feminist movement so that it is no longer about equality for all but about voting for women no matter what these women actually stand for even if they are handmaidens of hegemony. I see Sarah Palin waving her rifle on television and making statements that underscore her ignorance of the constitution as well as ignorance of common sense. I see our politicians approving tax cuts that we will NEVER be able to pay back, which will add $700 billion to the federal deficit, which economists of right and left wing factions have all come out to say is madness. I see our countrymen making decisions based on emotion and hysteria.
But Ian says that it is all a good thing. He is tired of fighting and suggests that the fall of the United States is for the better. We have been the superpower for too long. In all these years of policeman to the world and defender of democracy we have destroyed nations, obliterated governments and become reviled by the people who we are claiming to be helping. Plants and animals disappear to feed us and let's not even begin to talk about what our petroleum lust has done to the world. In the past few years we have weathered great economic collapses and wars that have become increasingly costly over greater amounts of time.
With Sarah Palin and American hysteria, Ian figures that our demise is imminent. He thinks that I should relax and let it happen because we aren't any good at being a superpower anyway. Let someone else take up the mantle. He is doing his part but not fighting anymore. He is stepping up his community involvement and tells me that his friends have also stepped back from politics and are focusing their efforts on making their community more sustainable to weather the eventual national level collapse. And yes, he has read "Atlas Shrugged" and no, he doesn't think it relates. He isn't going to be waiting on his roof for the end of the world, either, but he has given up trying to stop what he feels is inevitable. He is more relaxed now that he doesn't care and wants me to feel the freedom from burden of being an American. He looks forward to the time when we will rebuild. "C," he tells me, "Be happy; it is a good thing."
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