Sunday, October 12, 2008

American Crossroads

I am here.

I stand in a perfect cross, where four roads converge, and I am disturbed. Here, the field is disrupted, and its distortion emanates from both the sources and destinations of these four roads.

The first road originates from a friend (yes, you know who you are) on the web who distributes theories (I won’t say “conspiracy” theories, because they relate to conspiracies as war relates to 4 AM cat fights) about the state of our nation and the forces seeking to subvert her. Think 9/11, signing statements, standing brigades on domestic turf, weak Congressional leaders that surrender the balance of power. They are dark puzzles, large and small, and their solution hides in the realization that we know not what beasts shuffle through the corridors of power.

Second, there is the road that runs from an economic crisis that looks like a random confluence of fate and poor choices, but is a much more shadowed thing. Nothing falls this quickly, nor fails so soundlessly. Nothing defies the action of minds-in-control so completely. Nothing swings around the world with such passion, except for the plans of men drunk with power and technology in the twenty-first century.

Third, there is the road that carries tales from history. It is a voice that shatters the patriotic, fulsome lessons of elementary school, the Civics of High School, and world events from Freshman Western Civilization 111. It lies in wait in dark alleys to assault the purity of American Motives. It rips the blindfold from Justice, and demands that Liberty raise her torch high enough to illuminate the huddled masses growing from her own shores. “Taxation without representation is tyranny”? “Give me your tired and poor”? “We are the Beacon of Light to a struggling world?” Nothing will ever be so simple again.

And fourth is, of course, the road to the 2008 election. Republican vs. Democrat. Hope vs. Experience. Racism vs. Ageism. Stupidity vs. Naiveté. Craven vs. Corrupt. We are lined up, side against side. We throw rocks at our brothers and sisters, on command. We shout epitaphs at our mothers. We cow those we are sworn to protect. We ignore our conscience, and repudiate our Bill of Rights in the name of safety. We read bumper stickers to identify our enemies, and trust our friends only as far as the next “crisis”.

Our world has become a game, and we are hell-bent on winning, though we no longer can read the rules. We are so wrapped up in the exercise of our competitive natures that we cannot see the marionette strings jerking the main characters of this American Passion Play for our distracted amusement. Worse, we cannot feel the stings trailing from our own joints and limbs. Tug. Tug. Tug.

Four paths converging from separate spaces. Four paths steeped in human nature, corrupted. Four paths birthed in “No one would do that here!” and “Why would they betray us here?” Four paths geometrically disposed to run off the end of the Earth. Gone. So soon gone. Unless we stand together here in this crossroads, and force the immoral and ignorant traffic to halt, turn around and scatter to the dark corners from whence they came.

6 comments:

Spartacus Jones said...

Couldn't have said that better myself.

:)

sj

rebecca said...

Oh my God, Fe, this has got to be the best essay I've read from you yet. You are so gifted in word and expression and knowledge and you put it together so eloquently and truthfully. I come here to read your words; and, time and again, I am left in awe of how you write and how you connect to that very thing -- the pulse of society - that needs voicing.

I feel the sadness in your heart for our current state of affairs and I am with you, sister...I am certainly with you. A nation (house) divided is a nation lost, a nation that will not thrive nor succeed. I am seeing so much division lately and so much hatred and fear, something that I've not seen the likes of in my lifetime. It is troubling, it is disturbing and it saddens me to know that this election has brought many's worst fears, ignorance, and true colors to the surface. How can we ever progress as a nation, as a world, when our minds remain so limited in our vision? I pray for us and for the unity that we so need right now.

CoyoteFe said...

Spartacus Jones:
:-)

CoyoteFe said...

Rebecca!
You say the most wonderful things, and I am glad you enjoyed it! But, you give me WAY too much credit! Did I mention that a friend tortures - I mean gifts - me with information that I take TOO MUCH time to absorb?

I am resistant. I do not want to believe that we are here, or have to STAY in this daily state of war and failing dreams. But we are, and I am not ready to give up. Sounds like you are not either. I'm glad you're here. :-)

San said...

It is a time of being pulled in various directions, one of them being complacency. That's the one to resist, as hard as it is to look at the truth with a discerning eye.

Keep on looking. Keep on standing. Keep on writing.

CoyoteFe said...

Halloo, San!
You are right, of course, and thanks for the visual. I do feel tugged, and sometimes wonder if I am moving or resisting in the right direction.