The morning-after is always a let-down, a moment of weary headache-ridden resignation that the panic held at bay can no longer be denied. This is my country in this moment. We had a grand time for too long, sipping the heady drink of equal rights for people of color who long had been in bondage; and for women who remained subject to men, and for non-heterosexuals who hid from everyone’s wrath. We celebrated the promise of the power and strength which comes through embracing diversity and equality; long promised, and too long denied. We danced to the tune of American exceptionalism. Our belief in ourselves coursed through our veins. We danced and we drank, then drank some more. Heedless of the obligation to take our achievements seriously, we failed to protect the values we had accumulated over so many years of struggle; and, after such hurtful sacrifices, often too painful to discuss openly. Blind drunk, we waited too long to sober up.
If we had not been drunk, would we have noticed the smirks and innuendos, the open plotting and strategies of those at the Tea Party in our midst? How could we have missed the sheer exuberance of their hate for us? Did our ascension in the world of science and technology numb us to the animal nature seeking power and control, and the fear engendered by an expanding universe of ideas? Did our celebration lead us on a merry chase through such vast fields of entertainment that we stopped to play too long for our own good?
Why did no one tell us to go home and get some rest; and, that tomorrow would be a long day? Or, perhaps they did; but we were too intent on our pleasure to acknowledge the alarm clock would soon go off. And perhaps, the alarm clock did go off, but we simply stopped it and went back to sleep. Why was this not news? Are some truths too difficult to comprehend, or simply too challenging to report? Or, maybe, those reporting stayed too long at the celebration, drank too much, and danced too long beside us.
America, it is time to sober up.
annarino writes 