If pointing a finger could solve a problem, we would no longer have any problems. We have become a country full of experts, absolute pros, every one of us, at determining what the other fellow is doing wrong. We have whole armies full of talking heads who generate faxes, tweets and emails about the stupidity of 'the other party' all day long, every day now. We have whole television networks full of people who vote a single party line and feel no qualms whatsoever about calling such a slanted viewpoint "news." We no longer need facts, or clear vision, or honest dialogue. We have rant and volume and we're not afraid to use 'em. We know how to stir up the masses and pour.
The worst of it is: we're no longer even trying to govern at the national level. We're just trying to obstruct, to keep 'the other party' from accomplishing anything. We're too focused on the next election-which our party will have a better chance of winning if 'the other party' can't get anything done while in office-to see the moment we're in. So alas and unfortunately, all problems remain unsolved. Nay, they not only remain unsolved, they worsen. The sheer number of crushing and seemingly intractable problems facing the USA today should be a big ole hint that blaming others does not really solve any of your problems in the long run.
Come on, folks! We can do better than this! We know what solves problems! Creativity solves problems. Discussion, dialogue, the ability to respect opposing views simultaneously, the willingness to work with others, honestly acknowledging when something doesn't work and then trying something else... all these things solve problems. And obeying the Golden Rule solves problems: Do unto others what you would have others do unto you. We learned this stuff in kindergarten! (And as that book back in the 90s said, it probably is all we need to know.)
But constantly creating enemies out of our fellow countrymen and women-creating enemies out of anyone, anywhere-does not solve problems. Never has, never will. Creating enemies creates problems.
I know, this is tough stuff. I long for the enemy to be elsewhere as much as the next person. We crave clarity at all costs-black and white, my way or the highway, for me or against me-without realizing that this is medieval thinking and that we no longer happen to live in the Middle Ages. This is the 2000s. We have seen the Earth from the moon. And you know, from up there you really can't tell a Red State from a Blue State.
We have come too far along in history to continue demonizing one another for political and economic gain without experiencing serious repercussions. Just look around. We can't keep pretending that everyone in 'the other party' is a mortal enemy or the wicked spawn of Satan, like kids in a schoolyard fight, without going to hell in a hand basket.
How do we want to be remembered by our children? As elders they could be proud of? Or should Tom Brokaw start planning to call his next book, The Stupidest Generation?
Certainty is a mark of spiritual immaturity. Fanaticism is just repressed doubt. Neither has proved to be all that useful in terms of human development. The wise ask questions. And seek answers.
What if cooperation were cool? What if our national heroes were those who got the most done for their country, instead of those who piled up the most money or wielded the most power? What if we started acting like grown-ups?
The perpetual scholar type, with lifelong interests in comparative religion and analytical psychology, Kay has a Bachelor of Science with Honors from Portland State University, but considers her real education to be 18 years of private focus on the human shadow. When not reading or writing, she's outside gardening on 3 hilly, wooded acres near Portland, Oregon.
To learn more please visit: http://www.shadowintheusa.com/
