THE DAWN OF A NEW DAY?
I can't say I'm not happy. In fact, I am delirious with joy. I feel that Americans made the right choice, that somehow the years ahead will be filled with sunshine amid the clouds, that if another Katrina comes along, the National Guard and FEMA will be there like clockwork. I feel there may soon be an end to the Chaos that is the Middle East.
I think Nancy Pelosi has a huge job ahead of her. I am not such a forgiving person that I do not hope that Bush, Cheney and their Cronies do not get their comeuppance. At times, I have favored another, more extreme investigation into their activities on 9/11, as they ignored those ominous messages and sat on their behinds until the dust had settled, before going to New York.
Oh, yes, I have had my vindictive thoughts, that perhaps it would be only just that those millionaires and billionaires be forced to forfeit their fortunes to partially repay some of the tremendous debt the American taxpayers will eventually have to shoulder. I have felt anger, resentment, spite....I could go down the list of these overpowering emotions, and I have felt them.
Now I am trying to follow the path Pelosi has set, one that ignores partisanship, that favors cooperation between political ideologies, that seeks peace and prosperity rather than angry retaliation.
At the moment, that is almost more than I can handle. I guess I need a few days of restful thought or an interlude of emotional turmoil. I guess I need my moment to gloat, to say "I told you so!" and to lord it over the rightwing masses who seem to support a path of continual war and heavy spending....to the tune of about 2 trillion dollars.
What in hell is a trillion dollars? In my purse, I have 45 dollars that will last me until I take a trip to the bank, and I'll be lucky if a grandson or two don't arrive to "borrow" some of it before I can replenish the funds.
I can't even imagine what a trillion dollars might look like, if they were piled up in a mountainous mound. Mt. Everest? Or perhaps just a small mesa, a hilly little pile of money? A trillion! And we are buying cheap Chinese goods because our jobs have floated away. A trillion! And none of it going to feed our poor, but is spent on a War which few people want or understand.
As someone once said, "A billion here and a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money."
Money is only a part of the equation. Another reason I cling to my anger is the thought of those young soldiers in Iraq. How many years have they been there? How many have been shipped home in coffins, or have been sent home with deadly injuries or twisted thoughts? How many will come home to fight bureaucracy for simple health care or basic existence? How many will be remembered 20 years from now, except perhaps on some cement statue spread across a Washington, D.C. field?
In the meantime, I have listened to the trumpet-blowing, flag-waving, Support the Troops warhawks, eager to call anyone with an ounce of sanity a "friend of Osama," "Unpatriotic," or even "Traitor."
How great it is to win over these people, to flaunt triumphant delight, to try to plot a course that contains an iota of common sense! How wonderful to say goodbye to their Faith Based nonsense, and perhaps now we can get the Biblical phrases out of our Math books, indulge in Stem Cell Research to try to help the crippled and fatally ill among us. Perhaps now we can embrace knowledge, rather than reject it, vilify it and ridicule it!
Thus I must have my moment of gloating pleasure. I must go back over those years of suppression and cruelty, of watching the Dixie Chicks being forced into humiliation, of having the rightwingers call heroes cowards and cowards heroes. It's over! The Christian Right has fallen into shambles....their leaders exposed as mere faulty human beings. Rush Limbaugh's brand of bitter hatred is falling on deafened ears!
Oh, they're out there. They will continue. They will regroup and continue to smear liberals with their omnipotent Ogre God. They will investigate liberal presidents and try to expose their love lives. They'll find themselves another leader who boasts of being "Thieves in the Night." They will continue to practice that strange philosophy of self mutilation they seem to enjoy so much, a world with no mercy, no kindness, no pity, where the Homeless are considered beyond redemption and the Poor subhuman.
Tomorrow or soon after, I will undoubtedly come to my senses and realize there is a long, hard, rocky road ahead for this country. But first I must have my moment! Mission accomplished! Bring 'em on! Set out the champagne glasses and let's drink to victory!
Our country, in my mind, has been like a drowning man, caught in the current of deep, swirling waters, reaching out for help, but unable to reach shore or keep his head above the surrounding, surging, angry waves.
Someone just threw him a lifeline. Yes, he's now clinging to a life preserver and is kicking his way to shore. He's wet, he's exhausted, he's weak with effort....but he is alive and safe!
What more can we ask? What more can we do? This is indeed the dawn of a new day, with the sunshine of peace and prosperity peeking over the horizon to warm the earth.
I think Nancy Pelosi has a huge job ahead of her. I am not such a forgiving person that I do not hope that Bush, Cheney and their Cronies do not get their comeuppance. At times, I have favored another, more extreme investigation into their activities on 9/11, as they ignored those ominous messages and sat on their behinds until the dust had settled, before going to New York.
Oh, yes, I have had my vindictive thoughts, that perhaps it would be only just that those millionaires and billionaires be forced to forfeit their fortunes to partially repay some of the tremendous debt the American taxpayers will eventually have to shoulder. I have felt anger, resentment, spite....I could go down the list of these overpowering emotions, and I have felt them.
Now I am trying to follow the path Pelosi has set, one that ignores partisanship, that favors cooperation between political ideologies, that seeks peace and prosperity rather than angry retaliation.
At the moment, that is almost more than I can handle. I guess I need a few days of restful thought or an interlude of emotional turmoil. I guess I need my moment to gloat, to say "I told you so!" and to lord it over the rightwing masses who seem to support a path of continual war and heavy spending....to the tune of about 2 trillion dollars.
What in hell is a trillion dollars? In my purse, I have 45 dollars that will last me until I take a trip to the bank, and I'll be lucky if a grandson or two don't arrive to "borrow" some of it before I can replenish the funds.
I can't even imagine what a trillion dollars might look like, if they were piled up in a mountainous mound. Mt. Everest? Or perhaps just a small mesa, a hilly little pile of money? A trillion! And we are buying cheap Chinese goods because our jobs have floated away. A trillion! And none of it going to feed our poor, but is spent on a War which few people want or understand.
As someone once said, "A billion here and a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money."
Money is only a part of the equation. Another reason I cling to my anger is the thought of those young soldiers in Iraq. How many years have they been there? How many have been shipped home in coffins, or have been sent home with deadly injuries or twisted thoughts? How many will come home to fight bureaucracy for simple health care or basic existence? How many will be remembered 20 years from now, except perhaps on some cement statue spread across a Washington, D.C. field?
In the meantime, I have listened to the trumpet-blowing, flag-waving, Support the Troops warhawks, eager to call anyone with an ounce of sanity a "friend of Osama," "Unpatriotic," or even "Traitor."
How great it is to win over these people, to flaunt triumphant delight, to try to plot a course that contains an iota of common sense! How wonderful to say goodbye to their Faith Based nonsense, and perhaps now we can get the Biblical phrases out of our Math books, indulge in Stem Cell Research to try to help the crippled and fatally ill among us. Perhaps now we can embrace knowledge, rather than reject it, vilify it and ridicule it!
Thus I must have my moment of gloating pleasure. I must go back over those years of suppression and cruelty, of watching the Dixie Chicks being forced into humiliation, of having the rightwingers call heroes cowards and cowards heroes. It's over! The Christian Right has fallen into shambles....their leaders exposed as mere faulty human beings. Rush Limbaugh's brand of bitter hatred is falling on deafened ears!
Oh, they're out there. They will continue. They will regroup and continue to smear liberals with their omnipotent Ogre God. They will investigate liberal presidents and try to expose their love lives. They'll find themselves another leader who boasts of being "Thieves in the Night." They will continue to practice that strange philosophy of self mutilation they seem to enjoy so much, a world with no mercy, no kindness, no pity, where the Homeless are considered beyond redemption and the Poor subhuman.
Tomorrow or soon after, I will undoubtedly come to my senses and realize there is a long, hard, rocky road ahead for this country. But first I must have my moment! Mission accomplished! Bring 'em on! Set out the champagne glasses and let's drink to victory!
Our country, in my mind, has been like a drowning man, caught in the current of deep, swirling waters, reaching out for help, but unable to reach shore or keep his head above the surrounding, surging, angry waves.
Someone just threw him a lifeline. Yes, he's now clinging to a life preserver and is kicking his way to shore. He's wet, he's exhausted, he's weak with effort....but he is alive and safe!
What more can we ask? What more can we do? This is indeed the dawn of a new day, with the sunshine of peace and prosperity peeking over the horizon to warm the earth.
posted by Herma Snider at 11/09/2006 04:22:00 PM
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