La liberté éclairant le monde

I went to New York City for the first time recently. It was a whirlwind trip that involved miles of walking and a longer list of things to see coming home than I had going. It was amazing! On the advice of a New Yorker, we went to Frauncis Tavern, the place where George Washington gave his farewell speech to his troops before heading home to Virginia, about a week after the British left New York City, effectually ending the Revolutionary War. He would soon become the first president of the new United States of America, but just then he was "only" a general, a military man through-and-through. The parting with his troops was an emotional one for all of them. They had just won a war and created a nation and it was truly the end of an era. I stood in the room on the third floor where the men had gathered...where George Washington himself had stood.

People call me an idealist and they are unarguably correct. I can't help it. And I'm realistic enough to know that Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, and the others weren't saints or gods or superheroes. But it disgusts, actually disgusts me to compare our politicians of today with our founding fathers. Washington never wanted to be president. He was a general, a military man through-and-through. And I thought of that when I read these lines from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: "perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it. Those who...have leadership thrust upon them, and take up the mantle because they must, and find to their own surprise that they wear it well."

I inevitably think (and this is my proof that I am not a pure idealist) of this past election and the shameless, graceless way in which candidates from both parties "fought" for the presidency. Mud-slinging is too subtle a word for what went on, and has been going on for some time. This was downright meanness, lies, and deceit. Not one time in the entire race was I convinced that our current president wanted to win the presidency because he believed he would do great things for America, indeed because he believed in America at all. Rather he, and all the candidates, seemed to be running against the other candidates simply to win, simply to watch the other ones lose, like a "grown-up" version of a high school prom queen election. Who was the prettiest candidate; more importantly, who was the most successful at pulling the wool over the American people's eyes and making them believe that the poor semblance of humanity before them was competent enough to be president? Politicians no longer even remotely act as representatives of the people. Rather, they pose as strong, perseverant, capable leaders who will lead the people blindly around. And the worst thing about it, the thing that infuriates me the most, is that the people buy it! Apparently, at least 53% - and more probably closer to 80% - of Americans no longer even want a representative. They want a protector, an all-powerful presence who will ensure that their lives and livelihoods are safe and comfortable, no matter what the cost.

We didn’t have time to take the ferry out to the Statue of Liberty so, although seeing her from shore was at the top of my list, I didn’t expect much more than I have seen on innumerable postcards. We walked through Battery Park and, to my delight, came upon the harbor. But the sight of the Statue of Liberty left me in awe. I couldn’t turn away. I cried. I sat there in thirty degree weather and just stared. She is beautiful, and graceful, and even from that distance has a presence that I would never believe a copper statue could possibly have. And she defies the tumult and corruption and confusion that currently grips America, that I believe (call me an alarmist) currently threatens the basic principles upon which we were founded. She says, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" And she still believes it.

These days I often think of something Vonnegut wrote in Cat’s Cradle about some character whose name I’ve forgotten: “Sometimes I wonder if he wasn’t born dead. I never met a man who was less interested in the living. Sometimes I think that’s the trouble with the world: too many people in high places who are stone cold dead.” Seriously, I wonder, in our political “leaders”, where intellect, rationale, and righteousness have disappeared to. I hope the Statue of Liberty, and a few Americans, can keep the faith.

isn’t it amazing
the way that right song
just fills your bones
and makes your heart open
up to the crazy world
that beats against you
and sometimes makes you
– dead

the
way
each
curling
windswept
tide-swirled nine-
katrillion-grains-of-
salt-twirled, re – lent – less, pounding wave
comes in to shore and back out
just like
that

that it’s no real feat at all
– but sometimes you wake up
and can’t see the goodness of a day
let alone the strength that makes you

that just one breath
inside your going-for-a-hundred-years
body means
some immeasurable
– unfathomable
– uncoincidental
number of things went right inside and
you’re alive

Okay class…today’s lesson – PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY…

Remember when you were ten and you really, really, really wanted a puppy? And you begged and begged and all you got were lectures about how much care a puppy needed: “a puppy needs walked, and bathed, and brushed, and fed twice a day, and taken to the vet, and trained, and cuddled, and read to, and helped with its homework, and frequent trips on private jets…” and “you don’t even make your bed in the mornings! What should make me think you would take care of a puppy?” and “if you show me that you're responsible then maaaaybe I will begin to possibly consider getting you a dog someday.” So you promised up and down and inside out that you would make your bed every day, and brush your teeth, and go to bed without being asked, and do your homework early…And finally when you were sixteen and your interest in puppies was finally waning in comparison to sports and members of the opposite sex, your parents decided you were responsible enough to get a puppy. “But you can bet,” your mom told you in the firm voice that only years of motherhood can master, “that I will not so much as lift a finger to take care of that thing. It is entirely your responsibility.” And even while you accepted the challenge you knew that if that puppy ever left so much as one single hair on the furniture and you didn’t pick it up, you would go down in infamy as the most irresponsible person to ever defame the family genes.

Remember that? Or maybe you don’t. Because apparently, based on the current adult population, children no longer learn lessons of responsibility from their parents. Instead, they learn entitlement. How much they are owed by everybody else for being alive and how frequently they are viciously robbed of their rights by those who do not appreciate laziness, ineptitude, and corruption. A puppy? You want a puppy? Get a puppy! If you find you can’t take care of it, Washington will certainly bail you out. It is, after all, your right to be negligent in a free country such as ours.

I was raised (yes, actually raised. Not set in front of the TV, or in the alley behind our house, or aborted entirely. RAISED) by parents who not only required us to be personally responsible, but also taught us not to pass the blame on to others, even if they deserved it! Yes, even if they deserved it. If it was a matter of justice, life, or death, it was acceptable to make a case for yourself in defense of something you were accused of doing, but didn’t actually do. But even if you knew who did do it, even if their eyes were burning holes through you, you didn’t, unless it was a matter of justice, life, or death, tell who had done it. My parents never stormed into a room and shouted, “Who threw the paper towels in a puddle of water in the bathroom?” Instead, they stormed in and said, “Somebody better go pick up the paper towels that are sitting in a puddle of water in the bathroom.” If you had done it, you fixed it and the case was closed. If you hadn’t done it, you fixed it and got the satisfaction of knowing you were a bigger person than the one who had done it. It’s a method of deferment. Defer the blame to fix the problem. A shouting match about who did something graceless, obscene, or stupid, would never have gotten the damn paper towels out of the puddle because anyone, if he is human, is going to get defensive when somebody points a big, accusing finger in his face. Don’t demand to know who messed up. Fix it. SOMEBODY JUST FIX IT. Take responsibility for your world. Be an upstanding, responsible human being, even if the whole world is exploding around you. And, most importantly, when you mess up, however small or obscenely huge, accept the blame and do what you should.

It’s a simple lesson, but it is not one that applies solely to deviant ten year olds who leave paper towels in puddles. And that’s the problem, it seems. The majority of American “grown-ups” – those who are in high places and those who are not – seem to have completely forgotten those basic childhood lessons. “I have bad credit because I spent more money than I made and made the assumption that rectangular pieces of plastic would solve my problems. So what do I do? Stop spending money that I don’t have. Why bother? The world owes me money and there are dozens of lawyers and companies that are more than willing to screw around with the numbers and cut me a break I don’t deserve.” “I am a bank giving enormous loans to people with bad credit and pretty soon my funds will run out and people are going to freak out and try to withdraw money, but the money’s not there because I loaned it out negligently.” Should we allow the bank to go under, allow the basic principles of capitalism on which this country was built to prosper and let the incompetent companies fail? Heck no! Socialism is the answer. The government will save us.

There was a little blurb in USA Today the other day entitled “Museum joins list of economy’s victims.” Apparently, Brandeis University in Massachusetts is shutting down its Rose Art Museum because, according to the school’s president “The Rose is a jewel but, for the most part, it’s a hidden jewel. We felt that at this point, given the recession and the financial crisis, we had no choice.” Oh horror of horrors! Call in the troops! You mean this place is actually taking the initiative to manage its finances responsibly? You mean that it is willing to sacrifice something that is a drain on the system in order to make some money and avoid biting the dust? Victim indeed.

If one more person above the age of seven tells me that something or another about his life is not “fair!” I’m going to spit in his face. Is mine the only mother left who taught her children that life is not fair? The world doesn’t owe anybody fair. And the government certainly doesn’t owe anybody fair. Sometimes you work hard and good things come of it. And sometimes, you work hard and crap happens. That’s not a problem, it’s not an injustice, or a tough break. That’s LIFE. And instead of crying about it, or calling for other people more incompetent than yourself to “fix” it, suck it up and fix it yourself. Take responsibility for your life, whether it’s your own fault or not!

Speaks for itself!

"My daddy taught me in this country everyone’s the same
You work hard for your dollar and you never pass the blame
When it don’t go your way
Now I see all these big shots whinin’ on my evening news
About how they’re losin’ billions and how it’s up to me and you
To come running to the rescue
Well pardon me if I don’t shed a tear ‘cause they’re selling make believe
And we don’t buy that here

'Cause in the real world they're shuttin' Detroit down
While the boss man takes his bonus pay and jets on out of town
And DC’s bailin' out the bankers as the farmers auction ground,
Yeah while they’re livin' it up on Wall Street in that New York City town,
Here in the real world they're shuttin’ Detroit down.

Well that old man’s been workin’ in that plant most all his life
Now his pension plan’s been cut in half and he can’t afford to die
And it’s a cryin' shame, ‘cause he ain’t the one to blame
When I look down and see his caloused hands,
Let me tell you friend it gets me fightin’ mad

'Cause in the real world they're shuttin' Detroit down
While the boss man takes his bonus pay and jets on out of town
And DC’s bailin' out the bankers as the farmers auction ground,
Yeah while they’re livin' it up on Wall Street in that New York City town,
Here in the real world they're shuttin’ Detroit down."

"Shuttin' Detroit Down"
by John Rich
www.johnrich.com