As my father got older, it seemed to me that he was getting more curmudgeonly. He complained about the state of the world, our society, our culture - just about anything he had read or seen in the news. Well, I've gotten a little perspective with my own advancing years. I figured out that what bothered him wasn't CHANGE, but the lack of it. The fact that you can "fight the good fight", put your life on the line and change the world - but only for awhile.
My dad was in WWII, he was shot down, a prisoner of war, tortured, and had PTSD, all-in-all, an un-fun period in his personal history and the history of the world. At least, he told himself, his sacrifice had meant something. He had been actively engaged in saving the world and stomping out Nazism, and its terrifying racist evils.
Fast forward: Rwanda, (that not-so-important holocaust), and a brand new resurgence of society's "go-to" move: racism. There is suspicion and harassment of Muslims, Arabs and Hispanics, all made to seem legitimate under the guise of "Homeland Security" and "protecting our borders." Suddenly illegal aliens are THE WORST PROBLEM in the world.
Never mind the rapacious greed of the banks and mortgage lenders that did more to undermine the security of our country than any "illegal." (AND took more real dollars out of your and my pocket than a whole passle of muggers and petty thieves.)
Or, as my dad said, upon hearing about "Gitmo" - why did we fight the Nazis if we were going to become like them?
Although we DID seem to learn something. Apparently someone said: "We gotta stay away from that whole gas-chamber thing - REALLY bad P.R. Let's just go with illegal
detention, no Habeas Corpus, and water-boarding! We'll put that ol' Constitution on the shelf like the relic it is."
My dad was in WWII, he was shot down, a prisoner of war, tortured, and had PTSD, all-in-all, an un-fun period in his personal history and the history of the world. At least, he told himself, his sacrifice had meant something. He had been actively engaged in saving the world and stomping out Nazism, and its terrifying racist evils.
Fast forward: Rwanda, (that not-so-important holocaust), and a brand new resurgence of society's "go-to" move: racism. There is suspicion and harassment of Muslims, Arabs and Hispanics, all made to seem legitimate under the guise of "Homeland Security" and "protecting our borders." Suddenly illegal aliens are THE WORST PROBLEM in the world.
Never mind the rapacious greed of the banks and mortgage lenders that did more to undermine the security of our country than any "illegal." (AND took more real dollars out of your and my pocket than a whole passle of muggers and petty thieves.)
Or, as my dad said, upon hearing about "Gitmo" - why did we fight the Nazis if we were going to become like them?
No, he wasn't upset by change, he was near despair that people NEVER really seem to change. There's always someone willing to hate and to stir up others by dressing their "cause" up
in euphemisms. The same fear-mongering that worked in Nazi Germany, works just as well now.
in euphemisms. The same fear-mongering that worked in Nazi Germany, works just as well now.
Although we DID seem to learn something. Apparently someone said: "We gotta stay away from that whole gas-chamber thing - REALLY bad P.R. Let's just go with illegal
detention, no Habeas Corpus, and water-boarding! We'll put that ol' Constitution on the shelf like the relic it is."
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