Monday, March 23, 2009

Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio?

When I was a kid, my world was simple and pleasant. My mother would make my sister and me peanut butter sandwiches which we would eat in the air conditioning while watching Sesame Street. Life doesn't get a heck of alot sweeter than that....when you are 6. But I am not 6 anymore. Alas, I am a grown up, and I have to pay bills. And deal with car trouble, taxes, money problems, broken dishwashers, and all the other fun stuff that means being an adult.
It also means not just sitting by and letting life happen to you. Don't get me wrong...we aren't all meant to be pit bulls in the arena of life. Which is where my frustration comes in. Pre 9/11 I was the happy little housewife (which I still am) staying home with our sweet little girl, keeping the home fires burning for my wonderful husband...and once again, life was sweet. I didn't watch much more than the weather reports when it came to current events. I didn't care. It didn't affect me, so why should I fill my head with such troublesome stuff? Wasn't that what we pay our senators and representatives...and the President for? I shouldn't have to worry my pretty little head over such complicated issues as tax reform, and school vouchers, and the problems in the Middle East.
September 11th changed all that for me, but the transformation was not complete until 6 months ago. I, like 90 percent of the rest of the country, sat glued to my tv for a week. Grieving for the loss of life, and my loss of innocence. Frozen in fear, formulating plans for the next time I flew how I would defend myself and my daughter should some crazy religious zealot try to take my plane down. My husband thought I was crazy. I felt crazy.
But then time wore on, and the fear faded. I became complacent and happy again in my little pseud0-safe world. Bad people certainly existed, but not anywhere near me, and I didn't have to worry about them. We had a new department in the government. It had a fancy, reassuring name. Homeland Security. Wow! This was the homeland! We grow corn here, and drive pick-ups, and name our boys Bubba, and have 4th of July picnics...and welcome "...your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" We were AMERICA! Land of the free, home of the brave! We stand for all that is good and honorable! We eat hot dogs and potato salad and watch baseball for pete's sake! How dare someone else in this world attack us! We became watchdogs for terrorists. All the while neglecting what was slowly building within. And now today, we are reeling at the thought that partial birth abortion is an issue, and euthanasia, which in some places is optional. But why should we be surprised when someday, soon, it is enforced on those seen as expendable. The old, sick and mentally challenged. There are other countries that already do this. We are not above it happening here. We are a country that needs a PRO-LIFE movement! The very name should cause us to say "Wait a minute! Shouldn't we all be PRO-LIFE?!?!" But it doesn't. And now the very right to parent our own children and teach them what we believe is being threatened. And health care professionals who up to this point have been protected by law so that they don't have to be forced to perform abortions they don't believe are morally right or lose their jobs, may not be for much longer! What else has to be taken away before we wake up and realize that this may be America, and a great country at that, but not the Utopia we have built her up to be! She is sick, and we, her people, have to realize that she needs help! If not from us, from who then? Will it be the rest of the country, or our government? Not for me! No thank you! If we are to go down, I will be fighting till my last breath to protect my America!
I still wonder where "Joe DiMaggio" has gone...I don't think he will ever be back unless we help him find his way.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
-Edmund Burke

3 comments:

  1. I'm glad you're blogging! You have a lot to say on these issues, and I hope you get enough traffic to get your ideas out there. :-)

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  2. Wow - you really did pour your heart out (and QUITE eloquently, I might add!) I agree completely with what you've said, and I would venture to guess that most people would be able to identify at some level of having also experienced the violation of their naiveté.

    My feelings in response to your post make me think about a C. S. Lewis quote from Surprised By Joy:
    "Those are very wrong who say that schoolboys should be encouraged to read the newspapers. Nearly all that a boy reads there in his teens will be known before he is twenty to have been false in emphasis and interpretation, if not in fact as well, and most of it will have lost all importance. Most of what he remembers he will therefore have to unlearn..."

    Ever since my world/national events naiveté was vandalized, I've felt the pull of the 'Why Bother' attitude (described in Lewis' quote) on one side and the 'Be the Culture-Preservative/Salt and Light' option on the other side. The activist option is intimidating, as it practically requires a full-time job to keep up with whole-heartedly, in order to be abreast of the current issues. And even then, one is plagued by doomsday fears and pessimistic conclusions in response to the sinfulness of humanity, unless one has a Constant (I may be an inadvertent facebook 'boycotter', but I am a shameless "Lost" junkie! ;) ).

    One of my absolute all-time favorite quotes is from a George MacDonald novel written around 1875: "It stands to reason... that what's ill made will be made over again. There's a day coming when all that's wrong will be set right, you know... And the crooked made straight..."

    Without this Constant - knowing that the Sovereign One will one day avenge, heal, and recreate - I would feel as if I were in a hopeless whirlpool with the only options being agnostically disconnecting emotionally from reality OR allowing my emotions to be dictated by how many Supreme Court justices sign an opinion on a particular case.

    P.S. - The picture on your blog is GREAT - while it COMPLETELY exhibits one of the many facets of that darling one's personality, it also is a fitting visual representation of the "One Mamma's thoughts" :)

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  3. Welcome to the fight my dear. Together (and with the help of the Lord) we can move mountains. Let's get busy!

    LL

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