It’s pretty hard to, as the saying goes, put the genie back in the bottle. How to un-see what most of us have seen in the past year? It’s as though the entire nation (nay, the world) were suffering some version of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Not to diminish the actual diagnosis pursuant to exposure to the trauma of war, random violence, or apocalyptic weather crisis, symptoms exist for many Americans due to experiences of the past year. Think of it, how many of us have become irritable, easily agitated, anxious, and mistrustful of others? Many of our fellow Americans have lost interest in the news and even other activities that used to garner attention. People around me have reported sleep disturbances, even describing nightmares not to mention avoidance of reminders of upsetting events and politicians and celebrities in the news. The subsequent disassociation from our fellow country men and women due to prolonged exposure to political events of the past year including the campaign as well as information disseminated has left many of our people weary, worn, and wary of one another. In other words, coining the World War I term, shell-shocked.
Interesting that Roy Moore rode in to cast a vote for himself on a horse. The Alabama Senate race that resulted in Doug Jones defeating him put me in mind of another famous steed. Seabiscuit’s unlikely win during The Great Depression proved that a relatively small horse could beat the odds and became a symbol of hope. This turn of events provides the same possibility for us as a nation.
Not Democratic Party hope or Liberal Party hope. Obviously not Right Wing hope or GOP hope either. But Doug Jones victory offers the hope that we can come together, as a country, against all odds to behave decently, turning, perhaps reluctantly on the parts of some folks, to a morally acceptable place.
Thanks to those people in Alabama, we have chosen not to dance with the devil just to obtain desired secondary gains. That short cut leads us all to the place the devil dwells.
Whatever your beliefs and desires with reference to civil rights, women’s rights, gun legislation, immigration, North Korea, Russia, or The Fifth Estate, we can and should fight it out fairly, playing by real rules. Suspending our agreed upon Constitutional declaration is a dangerous short cut that has gotten us to exactly where we are today, in the dance hall standing across from the devil, his/her arms extended entreating us to cut a rug.
Bravo Alabama for choosing to refuse that dance. It, clearly, was not easy for some. You all have my appreciation and gratitude. No, we can’t un-see what we have seen. That’s true. But you’ve shown us that we can eschew what is intolerable by looking in our rear view. Thanks to this election, we can go forward, together, and make America decent again.
