January 11, 2011
Moments crash upon us that demand we put on Superman’s cape in the face of injustice. Such a moment occurred in Tucson Arizona on Saturday, 01/08/11. Outrage is the order of the day and a natural reaction to the injustice of such a senseless mass killing. We Americans are good at it, breeding mass killers. Some would blame the American psyche or the confrontational national rhetoric, both are slight of hand intended to manipulate the public to further another agenda. In reality these folk are more despicable than the killer.
There is little new here, when life doesn’t pan out according to advertised expectations, one option for the individual is to allow anger to consume, both themselves and whomever gets in the way. If we were Clark Kent, if we could jump into the nearest telephone booth and put on the cape to crusade against this injustice, what would we do? For most of us this is an anxiety producing question. We could apply a few Band-Aids to our American condition but regrettably this injustice seems to be an unavoidable byproduct of a free society.
The real insanity is to slavishly surrender our freedoms to a societal designer who would, supposedly, make life sweet and predictable. These lying folk or systems come along regularly to hawk their wares to a nervous public. Should we fear the insane few or the insane multitude who would destroy our freedoms? An overbearing federal government is one such threat. Just because there are a few unstable people who co-op the rhetoric doesn’t make the rhetoric insane.
Freedom is expensive and a few of us will always pay a higher price. Today’s freedom fighters were in Tucson, to include their families who suffer greatly. We mourn together. They are our heroes as much as any who have sacrificed for this Promised Land. The purveyors of hate and murder will always challenge us to be someone other than the shinning light on a hill, the American light of freedom that we were created to be. The fallen have joined a long list of freedom fighters and we are proud and a bit ashamed.
Ashamed at our own reluctance to step up to serve others by over prioritizing our own personal comfort. The American way is more than a job, a white house and our IRA accounts. We are not the world, we are better than this, we are Americans. How many times do we look the other way instead of getting involved? How many times do people in trouble cross our path and we ignore them? How often do our politicians increase the defense budget and skim away at the mental heath resources for our neighbors? We all are guilty.
As Americans, when we are at our best, we are just insane enough to believe that it is up to us individually to put on Superman’s cape and value our freedoms. The best of our freedoms is, as the Constitution states, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Do we value the life freedom for all? Do we give each American the opportunity to pursue their own dreams? Are we as demanding for the other guys freedom to chose their own way, as we are demanding of our own way? These freedoms are not for the few but all Americans.
Grab your Superman capes and let us follow our heroes.
G.Goslaw
Victorville, Ca
