“The blizzard
of the world
Has crossed
the threshold
And it has
overturned
The order of
the soul.”
~ Leonard
Cohen, Canadian Poet/Novelist
I am
bewildered by the discord in our world but mostly the kind that exists in our
own country.
There is a whirling
raging sickness within us, a deep and troubling emotional and spiritual
dysfunction that separates us from any real unity as a nation.
It is a
blizzard of some kind, some terrible inner storm within so many of us, that, as
Cohen so aptly puts it, has overturned the order of the soul.
The soul of America. And the
souls of many of us who say we love our country but never seem to show it.
I have
trouble understanding all of the hate and just viciousness towards President
Obama. It’s not just political
differences. It’s not mostly about his policies. It’s much deeper than that. People keep saying it’s not about race; but
that is a huge component of it. It
really is. And it’s dishonest when so
many of his critics and haters say it isn’t.
It also seems
to be about winning and losing at all costs.
Look at Lance Armstrong. What a
disgrace he is to himself and to his sport and to his country. He is a mirror of our national disorder of
the soul. There aren’t any gracious,
noble losers anymore. Athletics,
business, the workplace, politics, even religion used to be not only about
triumph and finishing first and succeeding and doing good, but about accepting
that you or your team or your work group or your political party lost, or that
you might be wrong about some things, and dealing with it like a champion, like
a mature adult and a responsible person.
I grew up with that philosophy as a kid playing sports in school. We had some damn tough coaches who pounded
winning into us. But they also taught us
how to keep our heads up after a loss and how to honestly respect and praise
those who fairly defeated us. I had
demanding teachers and professors who forced me to think and take my education
seriously and to achieve excellence. But
I can’t remember any of them belittling me when I didn’t or telling me to cheat
and fake it and bully my way into some favorable outcome.
Nowhere is
our national disordered soul more obvious than in our politics. Politics has become a filthy, nasty
business. It reeks with rude pettiness,
unbridled corruption, childish bickering, and the worst kind of power playing
ruthlessness. Many in Congress have no
respect for the office of the President.
It’s all a game of seeing who can bully their way into power and stay there. It’s about making crafty, questionable deals
with treacherous lobbyists representing the greed of huge corporations and
banks without the slightest interest in how those deals might affect the rest
of the country. And it’s about this,
too: Many Congressmen model a sneering contempt for President Obama that is
then copied by constituents and many in the country who are vulnerable to
hating a black Democratic president.
We can deny
that all we want. But the truth stares
us in the face and mocks our flimsy protests to the contrary.
There is a
blizzard within our national life and it has overturned the order of the soul
within far too many of us.
It has been
said that in those old pioneer days whenever a blizzard was within sight, the
farmers on the Great Plains would run a rope from the backdoor of the house to
the barn. Their work had to go on even in the midst of the danger and chaos of some harsh winter. But they had to take precautions. They were well aware of
neighbors and others who had wandered off and were left to freeze to death
because they lost all sense of direction in the midst of some fierce whiteout. There they were in their own backyard a short
distance from safety but became blinded and lost and unable to find their way
home.
We seem to
have lost in this country the common sense to anchor ourselves to truths and
values that would keep us safe when great inner turmoil blizzards its way
across our national landscape. There is
no longer a rope of safety to guide us home.
We remain wanderers, caught in the midst of blinding hatred and
discord. Away from the warmth of caring
relationships, noble character, bravely facing the hard realities of life with
reason and discipline, intelligently accepting our vast diversity, we stumble
in the cold. The order of our souls is
overturned and we are freezing to death.
© 2013
Timothy Moody
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