People who know me have often heard me say, “A little persecution never hurt anyone.” Most people hear that and think I'm joking and while I rarely correct them, there is a more serious meaning. It's been my experience that people who are persecuted for something they strongly believe in usually come out the other side of the trial with a keener sense of themselves and a firmer belief in whatever is was that got them into trouble in the first place.
The state of our Union, this event and an unwitting friend who loves Halloween, gave me a fresh opportunity to think about freedom, responsibility and persecution.
Every year my friend plans a huge party with a special theme, this year it was super heroes. I don't know about you but I have always loved the notion of a super hero ! A seemingly regular Jane or Joe who swoops in at the last minute to save the day. Always a dramatic entrance and usually in a great costume.As I pondered my costume choices I quickly eliminated the well known female heroines. I lost my waist somewhere between my second and third pregnancy, and I knew I couldn't do justice to the costumes. My husband was going as Clark Kent, and momentarily I considered going as Lois Lane, not a super hero but the hero's girlfriend.
I briefly considered Happy Bunny, a sometime personal hero of mine. Happy Bunny often says what we're too polite to say out loud.More than once lately I have wanted to say to my representatives, “You're Stupid, and that's sad” I think I actually say that but I generally use way more words so I come off as reasoned and polite and they don't bump me up to the top of the black helicopter list, I'd say being flagged as a radical tea party trouble maker at the White House is notoriety enough.
I finally decided on Rosie the Riveter. Not so much a super hero but an amalgam of what is great about America and a simple, economical costume. (trust me, I was cheap before the recession)I wore my sons blue Navy coveralls, the classic red bandanna, saddle shoes and a name tag that identified me as the Iconic Super Hero!
While planning my Rosie costume, I gave a lot of thought to what she represented, and that brought into clearer focus for me how much our country has changed since Rosie hung up her rivet gun.
Rosie knew something about being an American that many of us seem to have forgotten. She lived in a time when we still had reason to believe we could trust the people we sent to Washington.
Rosie knew about real sacrifice.
She knew that sometimes you had to step out of your comfort zone well before we had professionals explaining to us what a comfort zone was and the benefits of stepping out of it.
Those who were left behind while the men marched off to war rolled up their sleeves and got dirty doing the other work that had to be done.
Rosie knew it was up to her.
She was the embodiment of what was and is real and good about the United States of America at a time when we were respected around the world, by the good guys as well as the bad ones, even if it was sometimes a grudging respect.
A time when we had secure borders and took immigration seriously.
A time when the dollar was strong
the Constitution was still our foundation.
A time when we could trust our representatives to actually listen to our concerns and act on them.
A time when we taught our history in public schools and George Washington got more space in our text books than Marilyn Monroe or Michael Jackson.
A time when the idea of an attack on an American Military installation in the US was unimaginable and there was no question that we stood behind our military and the families they left behind when they went away to fight for our freedom and the freedom of those who couldn't defend themselves.
By our apathy over the past 50 or so years, we have as a country given the impression that we have relinquished our lives our fortunes and our sacred honor at the altar of personal security and peace at any cost.
None of us should comfortably sit back and blame anyone else for the state of our country's leadership. We have all fallen short, even if we have voted in every election, written to our representatives once twice or repeatedly and debated in the city square.
Of the people
By the people
For the people doesn't just happen,
it requires active participation all the time,by all the people,not just when we're pushed too far,that's just when we have to kick it up a notch.
I've heard it said that we're in this current fix because of the influx of new voters, some starry eyed and inexperienced; some of them shady and corrupt and of course there is some responsibility there. We've all heard the stories and see the videosand let's face it, we are not strangers to Chicago politics. Let me say that while many Young voters in America may know little or nothing of Rosie's America they can't take the entire blame for our predicament. They see the world through the lens of their youth, often under-educated by our public schools in the heritage that belongs to them, their only reality is the one they see, presuming the world is now as it has always been.
I heard George Stephanopolous say last week after the elections that some have called at the very least telling, that when the economy is bad the people punish the party in power.
Punish,
that's interesting isn't it.
How about we hold them accountable George.
How about we're tired of not getting dinner or a kiss before you take advantage of us.
How about you see this as a performance review and Oops, we're sorry but we don't require your presence at the table any longer.
And oh yeah, we want a Retirement Czar to take away that dream pension you managed to set-up for yourselves, unless you can prove that like Soldiers, Sailors, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard members, you served your country honorably and then oh wait, you only get a percentage of your active duty salary; and maybe later we'll think about taking away your medical care.
Just saying.
When the house squeaked their ridiculous health care bill through in the dark of night I actually listened to Nancy Pelosi say that they proudly stand with those who gave us Social Security and Medicare? You mean those programs that have been mismanaged, riddled with waste fraud and abuse, their coffers raided every time you add another entitlement program that needs money, and are what's that word …
broke?
Yeah I'd be proud of that too if I could get away with it with a straight face.
And what was the presidents argument for a government held public option to encourage competition in the insurance industry? Fed Ex and UPS. They're doing pretty well in competition with the Post Office, on the other hand, the post office does need a bail out too because …
they're broke.
I feel so confident that THIS time they'll get it right.
We've had our share of corrupt politicians from the beginning, They're like poison ivy, a sad fact of life. No matter how often you spray another plant pops up somewhere waiting to catch you as you walk through an otherwise beautiful scene. You have to be vigilant and every time you see a plant you have to spray it, kill it and hope you got it all. We can blame politicians all day every day but it won't change a thing until we actually hold them accountable to do the job we hired them to do. And kick them out when they don't. If we don't, we have only ourselves to blame.
Everyone is responsible Everyone is accountable.
We can't make people think differently because we will it.
We can't give our passion to our children.
We can't pass our patriotism down like an inheritance, but we can and surely must model what makes America great by rolling up our sleeves again. By doing the hard work of being engaged citizens in the most amazing political experiment in history and praying that others catch the spirit because they see it's worth having, even if it does mean a little persecution from time to time to keep us sharp.
I wonder, what would Rosie do?
I wonder, are we still super heroes disguised as regular Janes or Joes?
A little persecution never hurt anyone? That's not exactly true and to be fair what we're going through is nothing compared to actual persecution, at least not yet, but it sure got our attention didn't it?
so, what are we going to do about it?
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