Too often so many of us walk around in a state of oblivion or denial. We think that our behavior, our very thoughts, have no consequences and again, too often, foolishly and dangerously so, we continue on our path of destruction without a second thought. Even as there appears to be an almost heavenly consequence, with catastrophic results, we ignore, deny, and then mourn - and wonder why, what has happened!
We now blithely ignore last year, a year of death, of agony, of loss and a profound change in society, changes that will resound through the coming years. The GOP is trying hard to perpetuate a Big Lie and adds to it a willful and dangerous denial of the truth of Jan. 6, of the truth of a President who turned traitor on his country and dragged so many along with him. They dare to rewrite history, engaging in a massive denial of truth, of facts, even as they occur.
We do this at our peril. We foolishly think that we are in the free and clear of this pandemic, of the agonies of partisanship so exacerbated by Trump and his enablers, people who knew all along that he was dangerously awry, askew, on the sanity scale, yet went along, denied and lied, all in order to maintain power and for what end? That end lives with us now, an administration that left the nation to battle a pandemic on its own, that antagonized friends until we now remain in the position of trying to woo them back, weakening us.
We are now a nation that is being attacked by an unknown power or faction, foreign or domestic, or a collusion of the two. Strange, science fantasy weapons of energy are being directed at groups of us, with long lasting and debilitating harm, and there we stand, thumbs where they should not be, unable to figure it out. Once again, we are defenseless. Will another surge of pandemic arise or will it be yet another virus coming to us from the world of the other living creatures on this earth? What awaits us? And do we have a share in this, are we part of the cause of this world turning upside down, more so every day?
There is a line in Ecclesiastes which warns us that our dancing will turn to mourning. I think of that line when I watch a horrifying video of two brutal people attacking a motel clerk who was standing by the ice machine, chatting with another guest. Suddenly she is brutally attacked, thrown down, viciously kicked, many times in the head. The couple, arrested, are seen dancing down a flight of stairs by the court. What the hell is the matter with us? Is there any hope for us at all? Or is the sense of evil, its presence in our lives so prevalent that we have long ago crossed the tipping point?
Yesterday there was yet another deja vu moment for many of us. A terrible disaster, as 100,000 people in Meron, Israel, there to celebrate the end of a period of traditional mourning, were instead part and parcel of the beginning of yet another period of mourning, as a crush of panicked, running people trampled so many underfoot as they ran through corridors and paths trying to get away. Away to where? Why were they running? Did someone yell, falsely instigating a stampede? Once again we found ourselves calling relatives and friends, checking on their welfare, their whereabouts, for we knew that they, or loved ones, were there. Were they okay? Were they among the so many wounded terribly or even crushed to death by rampaging feet as humans ran like a frightened herd of cattle?
Is there no end to this litany of bad, of evil? Is there no end to the thoughts that pervade the sick minds of too many, who deny others their humanity, who laugh at breaking the humerus of a 73 year old woman and laugh about it, or who pull a librarian out of her car by her hair? Are we truly the descendants of the mobs of evil throughout history, giving the enemies of mankind, the foes of good, a win? Have we deliberately or unconsciously chosen the wrong path, more and more of us? Does it even matter how or why, or only the results at this point?
"Honi Soit Qui Mal y Pense". That is the motto of the prestigious Order Of The Garter in England. It translates to "Evil to him who evil thinks." Well, we certainly have thought much that is evil, and worse than that, we have done evil, evil coming to touch our lives in so many, too many, ways.
We all made fun of Jimmy Carter when he spoke of lust in the heart, not acted upon, as still a sin. Perhaps he was on the right track. Evil thoughts lead to evil acts, especially as we lose our sense of morality, as we lose our differentiation between good and evil, between right and wrong, as we memorialize these no good thoughts in legislation meant to harm and deny others.
Where are we now? How did we get here? Is there a way out? Answers anyone? Someone?
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