Every year I go home to the small town in Colorado where I grew up for the Fourth of July. It's a great mountain town with lots of parties, a fun parade, and some really good fireworks. If I'm anywhere else on the Fourth I become a snarling depressed lump of human flesh that must be constantly fed chocolate until the day is ended and all fireworks are done.
This year was a little different because this is my first vacation since Katrina hit here last year. I went by myself as hubby chose to save his leave to use in his job search and to take care of the animals at home. I planned to RELAX! To sleep, play sudoku, drink coffee and good beer, hike, and visit friends. I was going to leave the world behind for TWO WHOLE WEEKS! No news, No Kos, No Truthout. (Okay, just a glance here and there) No worries about peak oil, the middle east, the idiots in the whitehouse, or work.
I knew going into this vacation that I would have one challenge to my plans - my wingnut parents...
Go easy folks - this is a first and probably once in a very great while diary. I just had to get my thoughts down. I'm an engineer, not an author.
Here's a little background. My father is a non-practicing Jew, my step-mother is a born again Christian (previously Catholic). My mother is registered republican (and thinking of re-registering independent) but is very centrist and quite liberal on social issues. She lives down the street from the wingnuts and everyone basically gets along. Holidays are all together (except me, I don't come home for the traditional holidays).
My father and step-mother are rabid, foaming at the mouth right-wing nuts. My father's version of balancing his news is to watch CNN to balance out Fox. NPR is left-wing crap. So is Jim Lehrer. Tom Tancredo is incredible and Bill Clinton is the reason for all our problems. They are disappointed in Bush only because he has not performed the way they'd like on the immigration debate. Funny, that's the only issue where I think Bush has been at least innocuous.
I usually stay at my father's house for various reasons. I knew that I was walking into the wingnut-o-sphere and that my father likes to argue politics. I don't. It's not worth it. I was armed with a mantra ("I can see why you would believe that.") and a sudoku puzzle. If all else fails, put the pencil to the paper and appear busy. I did not order the "Sweet Jesus, I Hate Bill O'Reilly" t-shirt that I wanted to wear. He and I have an agreement to not discuss politics, religion or education. He breaks this agreement every time.
I arrive in Colorado - I'm HOME! The air is fresh and dry, there is no moldy air or broken trees and buildings. It's a good feeling. My days consist of walking, reading, visiting, drinking. It's just what I need. But wait, what is that feeling of tension, possibly impending doom? Oh, Dad turned O'Reilly on. No problem, I just go out onto the porch and continue staring at the mountains. If I look long and hard enough I can etch them into my brain and take them back to Louisiana.
I ride horses with the neighbor, sit in coffee houses and watch people. I talk to strangers. The real me is starting to re-emerge! I answer questions about Katrina: "So, everything's getting back to normal now, right?" "Sweet Jesus, are you an idiot?" is what I want to say. But I temper my tongue and give them the gory details of how most of the city looks the way it did the day the water went down and tell them that the French Quarter is just fine and to please come spend their money. Then they ask me where the millions of federal dollars went... Oy! If I only knew!
The current of political tension is always there in my father's house. I have this feeling that I'm actually disliked because of my beliefs. That's a strange feeling to have in your parent's house. Is this what prejudice feels like? I think back to how I felt when an old boyfriend told me that his mother was unhappy he was dating a Jew. Yes, it's a similar feeling, but worse.
I tried to hold my tongue but it sometimes has a mind of it's own, so I'm sure a few bits and pieces floated into the wingnut-o-sphere. Then it really came out. Valerie Plame announced that she is suing Cheney, Libby and Rove. My father, who speaks at the TV, (just like I do) tells her that she's a liar and that everything has been disproven. (I'm thinking, WTF?) And out of my mouth, before I can stop it "I hope she takes the bastards down."
Well, I guess that was the gauntlet. That and the Israel-Hezbollah war ignited a fire under my father's ass that just couldn't be quenched without a good argument The next morning my beliefs, and thus I, became the target of my father's anger at the world. After listening to several nasty comments about arabs and the world in general I told him that nearly everything he said was negative and curmudgeonly. In my anger and frustration I could not make a coherent argument. It is amazing how parents can turn us into drooling maniacs even at nearly 40 years old. Ugly things were said.
Funny thing is, after a bit of that, after I left the room and fumed for a while, we let it drop, and pretended it never happened.
Two days after I arrive home, I received an email from them. Here is what it said:
I am sending this to you to read not because I want to irritate you, instead I want you to have some persceptive of this from people who have been actually in the world longer than the 15 years you have experience with. This Mid east crisis will have more to change your world than anything else you have ever even thought of. We have no other option but to win this war in Iraq, if not....America as you have come to know it will no longer exist....simple as that.
Love,
M
----- Original Message -----
From: Subject: Words for thought
They come again for the Jews.
First, the Muslims came for the Jews.
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew.
I am a Liberal.
Then they came for the Christians.
And I did not speak out.
Because I was not a Christian
I am a Liberal.
Then they came for the Hindus
And I did not speak out,
Because I am not a Hindu.
I am a Liberal.
Then they came for all Americans.
And I did not speak out.
Because George Bush is the President
And I am a Liberal, above all
Then they came for me.
I said, but I'm a Liberal.
And the Muslims laughed
Then they replied, "But, you ARE an Infidel!"
And no one dared speak for me.
Then they beheaded us Liberals, after all!
www.politicallyUNcorrect.com <http://www.politicallyuncorrect.com>
Inspired by the original
First They Came for the Jews
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.
Pastor Martin Niemöller
So I sent her a link to this website in which the original poem and a discussion of it's meaning are described:
http://www.christianethicstoday.com/...
But alas, it makes no difference. I (liberal) am compared to what the Nazis did. What is amazing is the irony that is lost on them - the original poem was written by an anti-semite.
I wish I was brighter and more able to make a valid argument under pressure. Give me time to research and write and I can do it. But more importantly, I wish I was more adept at diffusing the subject and living more peacefully.