Wednesday, January 21, 2009

A Rare and Completely Off-Topic Update

I don't usually go off-topic on this blog. Leastwise, not far off-topic. In fact, I don't remember ever going too far off-topic here, on the PGS blog. Today, I'm going to make an exception.

Yesterday was a truly historic day.

Whether you're an Obama fan or not, yesterday represented something that will be long remembered and, I sincerely hope, long revered.

If you follow my Twitter updates -- here on the blog or via Twitter itself -- you might have noticed I'm very taken with a phrase from President Obama's inaugural speech: "We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals..."

When I was growing up, in the 50s and early 60s, my most impressionable years were, in large part, effected by what I saw on the tube. In television's version of America, at least back then, Americans were the people who wore the big, white, cowboy hats. We defended the weak and oppressed. We were a country of supermen-- We (figuratively) wore blue tights, a red cape, and we all had a big "S" emblazoned on our chests. We were the moral right in a world populated by so many who represented the moral wrong. From "Combat" to "Gunsmoke" to "Superman," and so many more TV shows, I was told, over and over, that right makes might -- not the other way around -- and that America always chooses right. I was led to believe that making the right choices wasn't something I, as a member of the human race, was supposed to do. I was taught to believe that, as an American, it was my obligation, my duty, to do the right thing.

And then JFK was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Later on, Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy were also struck down. The 60s was filled with so much that belied what I was taught by Hollywood's writers, producers, and actors, by my teachers, and by my family: The Viet Nam War, the attempted oppression, by our government, of lawful protests and freedom of expression, the attempts, by so many, to thwart civil rights and more. Even my father, who served in both WW2 (USA) and the Korean War (USMC), seemed to become disillusioned by America and what it seemed to be moving towards. And it wasn't a movement to the liberal left that bothered my father. I should also note that, with most things, my father was more than a little conservative and usually voted Republican.

Since the 1960s, in my opinion, it's all been a downward spiral for America's ideals and its principles. We have not represented the right stuff for a very long time, i.e., the stuff I was brainwashed into believing America was mostly made of. Sure, we became stronger and tougher. But not tougher on things that matter. Not tougher on preserving our ideals and principles. Instead, we became tougher like thugs, sacrificing what we know is right for the easy remedies of maintaining the status quo at any cost... sacrificing our principles, our ideals, even our constitution.

And I've felt disillusioned, betrayed, ashamed, cynical, bitter, and worse.

Until yesterday.

I had a medical appointment yesterday. I get my health care from the Veterans Administration. (Yeah, I'm a vet. USAF, 1969-1972.) As a result, I watched President Obama's speech on a TV at the VA. With me, watching in the waiting area, were about 40 or 50 other vets and employees of the VA. When Obama concluded, I was so moved. There were tears on my cheeks. No, I don't expect the impossible from the man. And I don't think he's a messiah. But his words to America seemed to lift a heavy burden, at least a big chunk of it, from my heart, my mind, my soul. A burden that has troubled me for a very long time. Obama's words offered hope for an America that just might have a chance at reclaiming some of those things the TV networks and others of the 50s and early 60s told me America was all about. In other words, a shot at redemption... for so many things and in so many ways.

My name was called almost immediately after Obama's speech concluded. I looked around. The room was silent and still. I couldn't wrap my head around the reactions of the others in the room. I really didn't know what they were thinking. It seemed odd.

After my time with the doctor, I came back out into the waiting area and looked up at the TV. I wasn't sure what was going on with the inauguration. Three vets, all about my age, were sitting near the TV and watching. With a big smile plastered on my face, I cheerfully asked them if Obama had been sworn in yet. One of them looked at me and said, "You mean your president?"

I was a bit confused.

"No. I mean our president," I responded.

"He might be your president," the vet scowled at me.

"Absolutely he's my president. Just like the last guy was whether I liked him or not."

The vet rolled his eyes.

"Dude. The fact that you're sitting here, at the VA, tells me you should know, better than many, that he's our president whether you like it or not."

The three vets, almost on cue, all turned away from me.

America has a long way to go.

But for the first time in a long time I have some hope.

Today, President Obama banned the use of torture. A first step towards reclaiming our ideals. Obama says he will offer a hand to those who oppose us if they will unclench their fists. How simple a gesture is that? And yet, how unusual for the vast majority of the presidents I've witnessed in my lifetime.

The pretty girl at the top is Aveena. I shot the pic, in spite of the copyright date, about 4 or 5 years ago. What? Just cuz I went off with some political stuff you thought I wouldn't post a pretty girl pic? Photographers please.

This blog will now return to its normally scheduled content.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

There are still quite a few angry people in this country who have clenched fists. Hopefully they too will be able to release that anger and pain and receive a hand in brotherhood from the future.

Anonymous said...

You have to forgive those other Vets, Jimmy. They were obviously there for mental health issues.

BTW, I'm USN 1985-90. Our unit motto was 'Semper Gumby' - always flexible. It works well for photography, too.

Anonymous said...

You know this speech did nothing for me. You never stated why you were so down on the country during the Bush Administration. As regards to torture (since that is one thing you mention) you have to define it. President Bush has defined it one way after advice from his lawyers and a lot of liberals say playing loud music and making the detainee cold is torture. I happen to think water boarding is not torture.

As for President Obama I'm waiting for him to do something. You seem glad that he banned torture, but I believe that has been banned a long time ago. He also froze pay raises for those in the White House making over $100k and made it OK to spend federal tax dollars on abortions overseas. I still have no idea how he plans to fix the economy. I do know that you can't fix a recession caused by people buying stuff they couldn't afford by government spending money it doesn't have.

Anonymous said...

I forgot something.

The part that really made me upset was the part where Rev. Lowery said this after Obama's speech.

"Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around -- (laughter) -- when yellow will be mellow -- (laughter) -- when the red man can get ahead, man -- (laughter) -- and when white will embrace what is right."

I mean we just elected a black man president, yet they are still saying we are racist. That really upsets me.

jimmyd said...

@Stephen, Just like I don't believe Obama has a magic wand he can wave over all our problems and make them go away, I also don't believe that Mr. Obama being the first black president is, in itself, like a magic wand that gets waved over racism and, suddenly, that's all fixed.

Racism, which might decline a little, will still have no problem surviving and resisting the effects of Obama AS a magic wand.

Anonymous said...

That's the other thing that bothers me. Obama is half white and half black. Why couldn't he of worked that into the "unity" part of his speech. What better would it have been if he said I'm a product of both races working together.

Now I do think this inauguration was history making. They all are. Only 44 men (so far) have taken that oath and changing presidents is always a historical moment.

Anonymous said...

I am a young naval officer and Obama supporter who experiences pretty much the same reaction you got at the VA whenever the talk of politics comes up. It makes me especially sad that the gripes with Obama are always petty, short term, insignificant things when so much of our national identity has been changed in the last years, as you allude to. I'm even inclined to put the current economic problems in that category. Fifteen or twenty years from now, this economic situation will be a distant memory, but the repercussions of the way we have been interacting with the world lately will last much longer.

And @Steven Cupp, I'll be heading off to the Navy's Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) school soon. There is a mock P.O.W. camp that is part of the training there that was based on what American intelligence believed the Chinese would do to captured aviators in Korea, including waterboarding. The Washington Post recently reported that SERE was the inspiration for the "harsh interrogation techniques" used by the United States since September 11th. So whether you think waterboarding is actually torture or not, I'm embarrassed that our country is getting it's detainee treatment principles from China.

Steffen said...

Jimmy - Like you, I was moved to tears during the entire innauguration. And I was moved to tears when I watched it all over again on my DVR.

The thing that has frustrated me the most during the last 8 years was that the conservatives promote themselves as being true American patriots. Yet they proceeded to crap all over the deep, core values that make America the country that it is: our Constitution, Bill of Rights, key legal concepts like habeus corpus and our membership in the world community as a signer of the Geneva Convention. To me, this was their gravest sin. Truly cynical.

jimmyd said...

@Steffen, The thing that has frustrated me the most during the last 8 years was that the conservatives promote themselves as being true American patriots. Yet they proceeded to crap all over the deep, core values that make America the country that it is...

That's their cover, the camouflage they hide their true agendas behind.

SGreen said...

You might have pointed out to the other vets that we should support the President during a time of war and that if you didn't blindly support him you were guilty of treason. Sarcasm intended.