DICHOTOMY

Reading the news this past week brought serious questions to mind. I’ve been thinking about my concept of this country – our country, the United States of America. The most common model portrays a young upstart, revolutionary country. A land of freedom filled with promise. A land pursued by immigrants who paid for freedom with their blood, sweat and tears. It’s a gritty, magnificent supposition - an inspiring story. We love that story and have built our patriotic self-image upon it. But assuming that our concept is subjective as it surely is, there must be an element of fiction to our narrative that we’ve failed to acknowledge. Voices from outside our circle of wagons call out the incongruities but we ignore them.

I’m no different. For most of 50 years I have been inundated with a paradigm of the United States as the “greatest country in the world.” But frankly, these days I’m baffled. I cannot reconcile that which I’ve heard all my life from the reality that I am seeing in our world…our country in particular. I’m referring to the dichotomy between the image of our young, progressive, innovative, forward thinking, tech savvy, cutting edge nation and the “burn them at the stake” mentality that we also espouse. How in the world do we reconcile this? Fact is…we don’t even try. For the most part, we are totally oblivious to it. What’s more, we don’t really want to know. We have our story and have created our collective self-image. Don’t mess with it and don’t mess with us! It’s much easier to spout the platitudes we’ve heard and accepted without question since we were babes. And God help the person that tries.

It’s been said that the truth shall set you free. I believe that statement with all my heart and I’ve been on a quest for the truth for some time now – maybe my whole life. Still, I’m always taken aback when confronted with the seeming hypocrisy of our collective and egoic image of us as a people and nation. I’m just not satisfied anymore with accepting facile narratives of the American way. And what is the American way? It’s a pretty subjective statement don’t you think? Wikipedia describes it thusly: “The American Way is a term for the way of life in the United States.” It “is an expression that refers to the lifestyle of people living in the United States of America. It is an example of a behavioral modality, developed from the 17th century until today. It refers to a nationalist ethos that purports to adhere to principles of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." It has some connection to the concept of American exceptionalism and the American Dream.” And yet, whose way of life is it expressing? Whom does it represent?  The homeless and indigent? Which way of life are they referring to?

I’ve been thinking a lot about these issues while grappling with my own beliefs and mores in the last few years. What is unmistakable are the inconsistencies in our shared, and again collective national image. How can something that is broken be repaired if one does not concede that it is broken. How can we be evolving while living in the dark ages?

A few of the issues that got me thinking this week were capital punishment, racism, “don’t ask, don’t tell," and war.

In this past week, a woman was executed in California; the first execution in five years in that state. Not really that unusual unless you consider the barbarism of killing someone as a punishment for crime…in this purported “Christian nation.” Other countries decry our bent on this most extreme of punishments and yet, we continue. What is our reason for this? How do we justify the taking a life? Do we use the Old Testament bible – an eye for an eye? Do we use economics? “It’s too expensive to take care of them for life.” In fact, it’s barbaric, archaic and very sad. There is no peace in it. What is the truth about this behavior?  Why do we continue to do it?

Here’s an article you might want to read from Miami Herald journalist Leonard Pitts – Take an eye opening ride on the racial profiling Turnpike. He is reviewing a book authored by Joseph Collum about racial profiling in America – one small demographic and human selection of America specifically. It’s an appalling look at a sad reality for many people of color today . http://www.freep.com/article/20101001/OPINION05/10010325/1322/Take-an-eye-opening-ride-on-the-Racial-Profiling-Turnpike

But that’s just one little slice of our racist culture. While not as overt as it once was, racism still permeates everything from our socially unjust food system on one end of the spectrum, to the veritably insane reaction to the election of a black president. There are excuses on every end of the spectrum as well. It’s so much easier than facing the truth about ourselves. Bigotry lives large in the United States of America.

This past week the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Law repeal failed to get the 60 votes needed in the house for the repeal to go through. This farcical law did nothing for homosexual Americans except allow them to serve in the military under cover. In fact, over 13,000 were kicked out of the military since the law went through. I would say I’m incredulous but this is the same country that still executes criminals. Not only are the civil rights of homosexuals being ignored, they are camouflaging it under the pretense of “preserving the sanctity of marriage. Why?  Because it's an abomination before god?  Kind of like defending slavery using the bible as was done decades ago using what?  the laws in Exodus?  People continue to pick and choose what works for their "Christian" agenda.  Where is the truth? It’s much easier when something makes you uncomfortable to find a way to justify your reaction to it.

We’ve spent years fighting a war that was based on lies. We’re still in Iraq and in active warfare in Afghanistan. No one talks about the lies anymore.  We're fighting a war on terror. Picture Jesus in a helmet and flack jacket carrying an American flag at the front of the battle. That's the basic unspoken but underlying representation of American military action in many circles.  A war backed by God.  Really?  I’m amazed at how our “Christian nation” justifies our imperialistic tendencies. Where is the truth?

We are foaming at the proverbial mouth over illegal immigrants and yet, we are a country of immigrants. We came, we conquered and we exploited the real owners of this country who now live on small parcels of land, impoverished and virtual slaves in the greatest country in the world.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. People are starving to death here in the United States. They are dying for lack of health care. How is this possible?

But that’s not comfortable is it? So, we just fall back on the patriotic jargon that dulls our senses and our hearts.

The American dream…aptly named. Is it possible that we exist in our own fairy tale? I can tell you this; if you’ve been born and bred here, it is a difficult thing to not buy into the rhetoric. It is drummed into you from birth. But, if you look past the patriotic idiom; past the religious oratory; and past the stubborn desire to cling to what may be a dream/fairy tale, you may begin to see truth – if it’s truth you’re looking for. Something needs to change and telling the truth is the only way it will happen. Truth is demanding, but it will set you free.

Food for thought:

“If America wants to stop terrorism, it needs to stop terrorizing the world.” ~Paul J. Balles

"A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices." -- William James

"We do not see things as they are, we see things as we are." - The Talmud

American Dream

I grew up in a tough neighborhood on the east side of Detroit. We moved there from another Detroit neighborhood in 1960 when I was 4 years old, a result of my parents search for a nicer home and better environment. At the time, the new neighborhood was a lower middle class assortment of Italian and Polish immigrants – mostly Catholic, peppered with a few black families and those like mine; a mixture of a Scottish Irish immigrant mother and a father from the South. It was a fun and interesting amalgamation of ethnicity and cultural traditions that, at the same time, challenged and enveloped the “American dream.” Let me add, the American dream is and remains in a constant state of transition and redefinition.

In a few short years the neighborhood began a tumultuous freefall that started with the entrance of the typical elements of urban sprawl; the drug culture, which introduced crime, which brought in white flight, lower property values and ultimately, the lethal state of urban decay that resulted in whole neighborhoods of empty fields dotted with abandoned and burnt out houses used for drug deals and worse. By the time I was a young teenager the American dream had become a nightmare for those unfortunate enough to call the area home.

I went to Catholic school. St. Ambrose, the church I was baptized in, was a mere two blocks from my home. It lay on the border between Detroit and Grosse Point Park, off of Alter Rd. The elementary school, new at the time, was on the Detroit side of Alter Rd. and the high school was on the Grosse Point side. That Alter Road dividing line literally separated heaven (Grosse Point) and hell (Detroit). I know….real dramatic. But ask anyone who lived on either side and they’ll tell you. The difference in two blocks is as day and night.

School was an assorted mixture of Detroit and Grosse Point kids. It wasn’t a problem unless you considered the way the GP kids dressed, or at least that was the view of my cohorts and I. We had ambiguous opinions on the GP kids and looked down on them amongst ourselves. I'm sure they did the same. By the time we hit 6th or 7th grade, we were pretty much separated into groups by zip code. I don’t know if we understood that. It was never really put into words. It wasn't a bitter rivalry or anything like that. In fact, in school, we all got along okay. We could work on projects with them and make fun of teachers with them. It was outside of school on the grounds and in our groups that the we were separate. We were worlds apart and somehow we knew it although if you had asked us, we would have just said they were snobs, dressed weird and were spoiled rich kids. It was that simple. I guess I don’t really know what they said about us. In fact, I never really thought about it. But to this day, I can spot a Grosse Pointer at 100 yards.

My posse and I came from dysfunctional families to say the least. Each of the five of us had a story, with family issues, reckless conduct, close calls and tragedies. One of us did not survive. The rest have struggled, made gains, had losses, and have lost touch. In recent years, I thought perhaps this is the legacy of the urban landscape but I have come to realize how shortsighted that frame of thought is. To be sure, I have run into GP alum from St. Ambrose who have done exceedingly well, attending elite colleges and landing in well heeled professions. They’ve continued on in the traditions of their families. With time, I’ve overcome my blind prejudice and come to see those as good things, not something to be minimized. I've found that dysfunction knows no class or gender and visits and perpetrates its misery on the haves and have nots alike if conditions are right. But likewise, neither do hopes and dreams belong to one specific group. We all want our children to do better than we did and we hope we can provide that opportunity for them. Those hopes and dreams belong to everyone regardless of zip code. While its true that paucity often times lends itself to sad results down the line, that is not always the case. There are success stories; those who defy the odds and overcome their harsh environment, either through supportive family and friends, sheer determination of will, or, maybe a little of both.

I’m thankful that I survived my youth. It was not an easy time, and there was precious little guidance from anywhere. But I made it. I have raised two children of my own through some pretty hard times but they are both fine upstanding people. And I hope for them, the things that all parents who love their children hope.