July 4th is celebrated as our nation's birthday. We're festive about it. Your city or town may have a parade in the morning. You might get family and friends together for a neighborhood cookout. Maybe there's an outdoor concert in the afternoon, and of course fireworks at dusk. We celebrate our Declaration of Independence and the ideals that document expresses. We celebrate our first step toward becoming a nation ... a people.
We have cause to celebrate in 2009. Our nation has changed since last July 4th. We had an election and a transfer of government without battles in our streets, something still uncertain in some parts of the world. The outcome of that election was historic: the first black head of state in a Western democracy, anywhere in the world. But I suggest this year we also have cause to pause and reflect on the fragile nature of our nationhood, our being a people.
More below the fold....
Proposing This July 4th Be a National Day of Reflection
Since last July 28th, when a man opened fire in a Knoxville church killing two and wounding seven others, we've seen a troubling surge in politically motivated violence. In 2009 alone, we've seen 14 killed outside a Binghamton immigration center on April 2nd. Two days later, three police officers were shot in Pittsburgh. In the past two weeks, Army recruiter William Long was killed in Little Rock, Dr. George Tiller was shot in church in Wichita, and yesterday security guard Stephen T. Johns was killed at the Holocaust Museum in our nation's capital.
Twenty-two dead, including the shooter in Binghamton. Nearly a dozen others wounded. Thousands grieving in their families and communities, and millions of us reeling.
I won't talk about gun control. That's an ongoing issue and reasonable people can reasonably disagree on whether and how different laws might have prevented one or more of these politically-motivated murders. I'm sure there will be other diaries on that issue, and if you think that's the primary issue I'll ask you to please comment in those diaries.
I want to talk about rage control.
A nation seething:
It's not much hyperbole when MSNBC host Ed Schultz uses the phrase "Psycho Talk" to headline one of his segments. Our political discourse has become dangerously toxic, dangerously near psychotic. I'm not going to single out individuals because, frankly, we've all done it at one time or another. It's so easy, and so tempting, to demonize those with whom we disagree. Crazy. Evil. Traitors. Betraying everything our country is about. You can't reason with them; you can only destroy them. I've read the same words flung from and toward every direction of the political compass. I've flung some myself.
In a political climate of perpetual outrage, people will do outrageous things. Our words don't "cause" the outrageous acts, any more than a gardener "causes" tomato plants to grow and bear fruit.
The gardener plants the seeds or seedlings, waters and perhaps fertilizes them, and tries to keep weeds and pests away, but the gardener doesn't "cause" the plants to grow. The plants do that all on their own, given favorable conditions. The gardener creates favorable conditions, and Mother Nature does the rest.
Toxic political dialogue does the same for terrorism. It plants the seeds of hate and rage. It waters and fertilizes those seeds with daily rants. Ideological divisions on the airwaves and internet keep most of the weeds and pests away. The dialogue doesn't "cause" the hate-filled and unstable to go on deadly rampages. They do that all on their own, given favorable conditions. The toxic dialogue creates favorable conditions, and Human Nature does the rest.
Then the toxic talkers of whatever ilk step back in real or feigned horror and utter what seems to have become our new national motto: "Who could have known?"
And our climate of outrage seethes even hotter.
Let's please pause to reflect.
Reflection can mean different things to different people. If you're religious, it might include prayer. If you meditate, it might include meditation. It might simply mean a quiet, reasoned conversation with a loved one, or in one's own thoughts.
It's the act of asking the Right Questions, without prejudging the answers. "Am I doing the right things, and in the right ways? With whom am I angry? Who is angry with me? How is that anger affecting me and those with whom I share this pale blue dot in space?"
And as Carl Sagan notes, our planet is but a pale blue dot:
We've seen at least 22 killed in politically-motivated violence since last July 4th. So over the next 23 days, let's please pause to reflect. Ask the Right Questions, and be open to the notion that each of us may be pouring toxins into our national dialogue, our national stream of thought.
Think of someone with whom you are angry. Write him/her an email, or send a text, or a card, or an old-fashioned, handwritten note. Not to rehearse the anger but to release it. It may be a family member, friend, or colleague. Someone you know online, here or elsewhere. Even perhaps a political leader or pundit. Write simply, "I have been angry with you, and I apologize for my anger." You don't need to say why and in some cases it may be better not to, especially if doing so would only stoke your or their anger. Let go of your anger.
Maybe you'll get an email, text, card, or note like that. If so, don't ask for an explanation. Don't feel a need to defend yourself. Simply reply, "I'm sorry I've angered you." Let go of their anger, and yours.
And on July 4th, as we celebrate our birthday as a nation - as a people - make a conscious effort to turn away from anger. For that one day, if something you see, hear, or read breathes on the embers of anger within you, turn away. Tell yourself, "Today is our birthday, and I don't want to be angry on our birthday."
This isn't about holding hands and singing Kumbaya. We can and will still debate problems and solutions to those problems. We can and will still disagree. But disagreement does not demand constant outrage.
Constant outrage is toxic to our national dialogue, our national stream of thought. It doesn't "cause" horrors like those we've seen in the past twelve months. It just creates favorable conditions. Human Nature does the rest. If we can't change Human Nature, we can at least try to change the conditions.
Once we pause to reflect.
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Happy Thursday!