Some Ask, "Is the Sky Falling?"
Sun Sep 24, 2006 at 08:07:04 PM PDT
So, with all the well-meaning but morose diaries lately having to do with the sheer hopeless travesty of progressives and the Democratic party having any hopes of building towards a majority in House and Senate, I've found myself thinking a lot lately about the old fable of the redoubtable Henny-penny. Bear with me (i.e. please read through to the end--I
do have a point!). My thanks to Joseph Jacobs at
English Fairy Tales for his most entertaining version of the tale, per below.
One day Henny-penny was picking up corn in the cornyard when-whack!- something hit her upon the head. "Goodness gracious me!" said Henny- penny; "the sky's a-going to fall; I must go and tell the king."
So she went along and she went along and she went along till she met Cocky-locky. "Where are you going, Henny-penny?" says Cocky-locky. "Oh! I'm going to tell the king the sky's a-falling," says Henny- penny. "May I come with you?" says Cocky-locky. "Certainly," says Henny-penny. So Henny-penny and Cocky-locky went to tell-the king the sky was falling.
Soon Ducky-daddles, Goosey-poosey and Turkey-lurkey had also joined in the panicked little crowd's mission to alert the king. However, then they met up with Foxy-woxy, and things began to go from bad to worse, as he warned them:
"Oh! but this is not the way to the king, Henny- penny, Cocky-locky, Ducky-daddles, Goosey-poosey and Turkey-lurkey," says Foxy-woxy; "I know the proper way; shall I show it you?" "Why certainly, Foxy-woxy," said Henny-penny, Cocky-locky, Ducky-daddles, Goosey-poosey, and Turkey-lurkey. So they went along, and they went along, and they went along, till they came to a narrow and dark hole. Now this was the door of Foxy-woxy's cave. But Foxy-woxy said to Henny-penny, Cocky-locky, Ducky-daddles, Goosey-poosey, and Turkey- lurkey: "This is the short way to the king's palace you'll soon get there if you follow me. I will go first and you come after, Henny- penny, Cocky-locky, Ducky daddles, Goosey-poosey, and Turkey-lurkey." "Why of course, certainly, without doubt, why not?" said Henny-Penny, Cocky-locky, Ducky-daddles, Goosey-poosey, and Turkey-lurkey.
So Foxy-woxy went into his cave, and he didn't go very far but turned round to wait for Henny-Penny, Cocky-locky, Ducky-daddles, Goosey- poosey and Turkey-lurkey. So at last at first Turkey-lurkey went through the dark hole into the cave. He hadn't got far when "Hrumph," Foxy-woxy snapped off Turkey-lurkey's head and threw his body over his left shoulder. Then Goosey-poosey went in, and "Hrumph," off went her head and Goosey-poosey was thrown beside Turkey-lurkey. Then Ducky- daddles waddled down, and "Hrumph," snapped Foxy-woxy, and Ducky- daddles' head was off and Ducky-daddles was thrown alongside Turkey-lurkey and Goosey-poosey. Then Cocky-locky strutted down into the cave and he hadn't gone far when "Snap, Hrumph!" went Foxy-woxy and Cocky- locky was thrown alongside of Turkey-lurkey, Goosey-poosey and Ducky- daddles.
But Foxy-woxy had made two bites at Cocky-locky, and when the first snap only hurt Cocky-locky, but didn't kill him, he called out to Henny-penny. So she turned tail and ran back home, so she never told the king the sky was a-falling.
The moral of the tale, IMHO, is as follows: 1.) If collectively we don't keep cool heads, we are in danger of losing them altogether, and 2.) It is not a good idea to pay attention to a Henny-penny.
As a child I was always quite fond of the silly Henny-penny, and felt glad that she at least had escaped the fox, but it was also clear to me that her reactivity and hysteria led the others on to their sad ends. So, please, enough already with the public hand-wringing and the "we are screwed" diaries (and I am not referring to concern trolls here, but rather to legit diaries by real kossacks). Such emotional verbiage does not constitute perceptive or useful discussion of current sociopolitical conditions going into the November election, nor even of the very real flaws in various of our leaders and our strategies. Rather, it signifies the far easier retreat into self-protective nihilism, a faint-hearted abdication of the responsibility to hope, to try, and-yes--possibly to suffer disappointment together yet again. This is not a call on my part for censoring speech, but rather to ask for measured, thoughtful, historically conscious, and even humorous speech with respect to the challenges progressives face in the upcoming elections and beyond.
These are indeed times that try men's and women's souls--and so by definition it is time for those with the courage of their convictions to demonstrate that they are in fact brave. Even when we lose--and some losses in this struggle are inevitable--it is time to demonstrate courage in words and in deeds, and to persevere. Why should securing democracy against the fascist movements and impulses which have dogged this country for decades be quick, easy, or sure? We are but one more cohort of American citizens who find ourselves living through yet one more historical period infested by scoundrels whose last refuge is the sentimental and empty protestation of their patriotism as they subvert the common good--there have been many such times before in our history, and others have struggled and even died before us in the effort to fully realize a true democracy.
As Patrick Henry reminded his colleagues in the House as they debated the case for going to war with the British, "The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave." (March 23, 1775).
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