Looking at the date of my last entry, I realize how long it has been since I've written and posted something here. Usually, if there is any sort of pause, there is a valid reason. Last year, I reran several older postings while I was working on the final editing of From Within the Firebird's Nest. Earlier this year, I was dealing with care for an aging parent; the same issue a lot of people at my age are starting to encounter. But this last bit of silence had no basis in an outside cause, it was entirely internal. I do take the term depression lightly, so I will just say that I was feeling down about what I was seeing around me and it was causing me to lose faith.
Without getting into an exact start date, because even that is politically charged, I am saddened by the ever-increasing divisiveness, racial discord, extreme ideological differences, or whatever you want to call it in our country. A large part of my reaction to this is because I can't personally identify with the situations being used as a basis for rationalizing the behavior. I was raised as a military brat, as with a vast majority of fellow military brats, the environment I was lived in was fully integrated on every level.
That didn't mean we were just all thrown together for bits of time during the day-- we were fully immersed in a diverse culture as the norm rather than the exception. The person living on the other side of the wall in your government assigned duplex was more often than not a person of a different race, origin, religion, and background than you were. This forced closeness caused one remarkable thing to happen – – you were forced to get along with others because you were always in contact with others who differed from you. Tolerance was not something demanded it was required for social survival. All of this was long before the use of such terms as diversity and tolerance. To us, it was just the way we lived.
As a result of this type of upbringing, and the many moves which occurred over the course of a lifetime, military brats are often the most adaptive people you could ever meet and also the least judgmental. The first time I became aware of differences in race was when I was required to go to a school off-base for the first time in Oklahoma. On the very first day of school, I was challenged by a group of local kids because the person I was hanging out with was of a different race and our friendship wasn't considered proper for their society. Too damn bad, he remained my best friend until I moved just before the ninth grade.
After completing high school, and a couple years of college, I went into the Air Force which was another fully integrated society. In the Air Force, you didn't judge a person based on trivial crap like race or religion – you judged a person based on their abilities and those you felt could be relied upon. Because of the time, I went into the military, the 80s, it was not unusual to know someone in your unit or even in your dorm who had a different sexual preference. Even though it was against regulation, it was not a factor upon which most people judged others. If the person did their job well and was reliable, that was all you needed to accept them.
Once I transitioned to the Reserve, I started to work for Civil Service and entered my third fully integrated society. There were some cracks in the structure of this one because some of the fellow civilians I worked with had never moved beyond the city in which they were born. As a result, they carried with them any prejudices they were raised with. But they were not allowed to bring those prejudices into the workplace. Not a perfect solution but it kept things running.
I tell this bit of backstory because to understand where I am, you have to know where I came from. It is because of my personal history that I find much of what exists in the news to be thoroughly depressing. A side note: I do not rely on a single news source but require myself to use five different sources when developing my opinions. Purposely, I have chosen two of the news sources I disagree with, one from overseas, and two which are more in line with my own beliefs. This helps provide much-needed balance to what I take in, I am also careful to segregate news from opinion-based reporting.
If you've checked out current news stories, you would be led to believe all of America is at each other's throats and we are on the verge of a violent internal Civil War for control of our nation's future. Everyone seems to be accusing anyone who disagrees of being a something-ist or filled with something-ism. Words are being weaponized and vocabulary condemned or forbidden regardless of the user’s intent, meaning or context. Every speaker has a death grip on their viewpoint as being protected by the First Amendment while they usually have no idea what the amendment actually says. Freedom of expression does not free you from responsibility for what you said or the right of another person to dissent. While I have enough remaining optimism to believe no news reporting agency is reporting falsehoods purposely, I do think some agencies are guilty of intentionally slanting stories to a particular viewpoint and omitting stories that make the other side look good. Even with my attempt at balance, every day appeared to me to be of more and more concern for my nation's future.
 |
| Hope: Without visible support going to a destination unseen. |
Then about two weeks ago, I had to take a trip down to check on my Dad, and as a result, I got out of my own sphere and into America itself. I drove across Indiana, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee and even though it isn't everywhere in the country, it was a pretty good sampling. What I saw brought back my optimism.
At several of the gas stations where I stopped, people held the door and greeted one another. Seems minor doesn't it? The action is – but the meaning behind it isn't. That deeper meaning was that both people saw each other as human beings and worthy of common courtesy. Isn't that the basis of society? Accepting another person as a fellow human being and therefore worthy of your best? In restaurants, I encountered people of differing races treating each other politely regardless of which side of the dinner table they were on. Sure, people can be paid to be polite, but it always shows through as the basis for their action. I observed people earnestly treating each other decently.
A few times, I saw people pulled off to the side of the road due to vehicle breakdown. In every instance, someone else had stopped to help them. This is someone going out of their way to help someone they don't know and someone they will probably never encounter again. Being selfless – – the very essence of what allows communities to thrive and prosper. I also saw law enforcement protecting our populace. Even though they occasionally had pulled a car over for some infraction, at no point in time did I hear about the officer or the person who got a ticket attempting to be violent to each other. Mutual respect for the law, isn't that also a basis of society?
Aside from observing, I also participated. I greeted and smiled at people when I encountered them and received the same friendliness in return. I acted respectfully to those behind the counter and those serving me -- and received same. While stuck in a waiting room, I had a lengthy conversation with a gentleman who was of a different race but who was sharing the waiting experience with me. We became compatriots of the shared experience even if just a little while.
My point is that the divisions which are being screamed about on a daily basis are not as cavernous or universal as the media would have us believe. There are opposing sides out there, and there are people who are being mistreated and have a valid claim about mistreatment. But for the most part, I don't think things are as sad or as hopeless as are being presented.
Finally, I was blessed with the birth of my 10th grandchild. She is healthy and beautiful. -- and another contributor to the return of my optimism about the future.
So, I am back at work on my latest novel, and I am again writing my blog. To paraphrase John Steinbeck, my world is once again spinning in greased grooves.
155.681
No comments:
Post a Comment