We are in the process of moving, which is the worst torture ever devised for pack rat-human hybrids. The list of things that I should throw out but simply don't want to is legion. Dried roses from my first wedding anniversay, now 15 years old and crumbling with age. Candles of all sizes, shapes, scents and colors, in various stages of meltdown. Rose-scented, lavendar-scented and honeysuckle-scented French milled soaps, still in the boxes they were puchased in as sets, oh so many sales ago.
However, the item that I keep passing by, using again and then re-determining to get rid of is my "Peace, Hope, Change" tie-dye t-shirt, a relic of the 2008 campaign to elect Barack Obama.
It's not that I've totally given up on President Obama; I certainly don't believe that President McCain would have been a palatable alternative. It's just that I can't put the shirt on without wincing now - its bright colors so hopeful, so innocent, its message so clear and uncontrovertible.
Peace. We are now in three wars. I fear that we will be in Afghanistan throughout my son's growing-up and perhaps into the years when he will be eligible for the draft, over a decade from now. It's not the President's fault: he very clearly told us he would pursue military options in Afganistan. I am to blame for pinning my hope on a colorful slogan on a tie-dyed t-shirt.
Hope. With GE CEO, Jeffrey Immelt, champion off-shorer of jobs, and plutocrat extrodinaire as the latest exhibit "A" (in his role as Presidential economic adviser) that the game is well and truly rigged, hope is in pretty short supply right now. People keep losing jobs and homes. Tent cities filled with the homeless continue to grow. Food pantries can't keep up. And the corporate-driven agenda threatens to take more and more from what has been the American middle class way of life. It was just a word on a shirt. A silly, cheerful tie-dye shirt. But I believed it. And now I feel more hopeless than at any time in my middle-aged life.
Change. Well, we've had some change, that I'll grant. The tenor of policitical discourse had gotten continually worse. We now hear without respite from the "tea party". Congress is probably de-funding many of the programs that I care about - public broadcasting, the arts, environmental protection. Schools across the country are having to cut staffing and programs. States are beginning to make it illegal to be in unions. It's change all right, but not change that I can believe in. It's change that I wish I could pretend not to see. But I can't pretend. And every time I put on that shirt- that silly tie-dyed t-shirt that gave me so much joy -the nature of what has changed is rubbed in my face.
So I should just get rid of the shirt, right? But I want to feel again the way I felt on Inauguration Day, crying tears of joy, thinking that balance had been restored and that finally, finally someone with some sense was going to be in charge. If I give away the shirt, if I put it in that Goodwill bag, I'm giving up my hope, admitting that I don't believe in the possiblity of change and peace.
So I put the shirt back in the drawer, or the laundry basket, or I put it on to wear to the gym. And I wonder: what should I do? What should any of us do who really want Peace, Hope, Change?
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Leysa Lowery
aging hippie chick
SeventhSister
bluestocking babe
Reflecting On History
Pensive Person
Salon.com
Comments
rated with hugs
I still have a campaign button somewhere...
rated
Rated for springing eternal.
Keep on fighting the good fight and don't stop speaking your mind!
Deborah - I seriously doubt that having a President with no hobbies or down-time would fix things; Bush chopping wood on his 200 days of vacation wasn't really his problem any more than golf is President Obama's problem. That sort of distracting nonsense is really more of a problem...
Satori - I really don't know what to think about that. Part of me knows that losing it all would be disastrous, but a large part of me also thinks that there is really little actual difference between "us" and "them" after all at this point. A new "us" might need to emerge....
"What should I do? What should any of us do who really want Peace, Hope, Change?"
one option would be to vote for the right reasons. good luck (to us all)!
Second, long before miracles from government are required, understand what those who founded this country understood. The best government is the least, and less intrusive, government.
Third, be like the Danes, some of the happiest people in the world. Lower your expectations.
Don’t expect much from government; and you will never be disappointed. Don’t look to government to provide the charity you believe should be available to the unfortunate. Instead, provide such charity yourself. You’ll end up feeling better about yourself and the world, if you follow this plan.
If you abrogate your moral responsibilities to an entity that has always been vulnerable to incompetence, waste, abuse, and corruption throughout recorded history, then you will always be as disappointed as the starving Egyptians were in their Pharaohs’ promises and predictions regarding Nile flooding when the droughts came. Such unmet expectations are what kill hope.
Fourth, as stupid as some Tea Party adherents may be, they are correct when it comes to their insistence that America act in a fiscally responsible manner. Americans are not under-taxed. Our governments overspend.
At the federal level, we spend over $800 billion on our military and over $2 trillion on our entitlement programs. When meaningful cuts come, as they must if we are to survive in our current form, it’s not hard to figure where most of them must be made.
Be a Liberal in a Conservative State if you wish. As such, advocate for change. Just make it the correct change.
Lezlie
1. The attack upon the public unions has woken the sleeping lion, the American concept of fairness.
2. the Republican's unleashing of the nutjob Right Wing throughout the country. Evidently all the "jobs,jobs,jobs" are to be found only within women's vaginas.
3. the last election exposed the men behind the curtain, the Koch bros and others are like mice, they only are successful if hidden.
4. Teapartiers are waking up to how wrong they were(buyers remorse). Dozens of them showed up at the Washington rally.
5. the Republican budget is out in the open, I think now is the time for Obama to crush them, I think he will.
By the way, if Warren Buffet paid exactly the same tax rate as his secretary there would be no deficit or debt. Almost fits on a Tshirt.
Pinto
And my black T-shirt with "got hope?" on it? I used to wear it proudly. I'm not sure where it is now, but when I come across it, there's a good chance that I'll throw it out.
I'm sick and tired of being told that I HAVE to settle for the lesser of two evils, sick of being punk'd. The Dems won't starting being Dems until and unless they HAVE to start being Dems.
And we're going to have to hear the Obama apologists pathetically trying to make a case for him for months now...
i'm glad you answered deborah young before i got here. you were far, far more diplomatic than i would have been.
28Spirits - Do you really have to sort of use the "f" word every two spaces? Really? And if you're going to use the "f" word, actually use it for crying out loud!
UncleChri - So far we are at 2 trips to the dump! :) I'm thinking that at least a couple more are in the works. And the Danes have public health care, BTW. Totally free care provided through taxes to all citizens, from what I can tell. And while I completely disagree with your point of view, thanks for coming on here and making a reasoned and polite argument. I appreciate your input.
Sorry I am not answering all comments as I usually would do - I am running for a flight in a few minutes. Have a great and wonderful Weds all!
"5. the Republican budget is out in the open, I think now is the time for Obama to crush them, I think he will."
Today Obama crushed the Republicans.
Pinto