Sailing Into Oblivion: June 2, 2017

My sainted mother once told me that I would be known, among other things, by the company I keep. But Nicaragua and Syria? Holy outcasts Batman!

Okay, okay. I know it’s not funny that we are now one of only three major countries that care nothing about the future of our planet. You can’t blame a man, though, for trying to lighten the mood a little this morning, the first day of our gradual descent into Gotterdammerung.

I awoke this morning to the memory of the unforgettable scene from A Night to Remember, the 1958 British drama film adaptation of Walter Lord's 1955 book. The scene: as the Titanic tilts bow downward and the crew and passengers race about in panic, one elderly gentlemen sits in the stateroom reading as if nothing had happened. He’ll accompany his passion into eternity.

Is that what I’ll do? Maybe. Then, I also read yesterday where some historian was encouraging folks to journal and keep their daily reactions to this debacle that is occurring in our country. That sounds like a good idea, but I’m not sure that the results will be of as much use to future historians (not likely to be any) as they will be to future visitors to our planet, perhaps even the originators of some transpermatic experiment that created what we call the human experience.

This series began as an attempt to present my personal, but opposing views, to friends without resorting to the vitriol that characterizes so much of modern interface among Americans. I’ve succeeded somewhat, only on occasion lapsing into anger or disgust. You can’t blame a man for a slip or two.

Now though, I don’t think I can discuss modern America absent an underlying feeling that we are in one hell of a mess. I think we are, to paraphrase Abraham Lincoln when he spoke in a small Pennsylvania village years ago, being tested in a great war of ideas to see if a nation conceived as ours can endure. My bipolar brain says, “I hope so, but fear not.”

I will gladly consider and reflect upon evidence-base arguments to the contrary.

In my opinion, we being led by man, condoned and supported by his party, who has not, since being elected in November, 2016, and even before, issued one sentence designed to bring about harmony to the discordant voices and clash of ideas that are tearing America apart. Wouldn’t we do better, as a country, to have a leader who replaced, “losers,” and “lock her up,” with the words of a far greater man? For example

“… We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

What leads a country from such magnificent eloquence to covfefe? I am simply aghast. One can only hope against hope that future visitors to our planet might fail to uncover, "I am elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris."

That’s how I feel today, June 7, 2017. Now, I’m going to make sure my mental tray tables are in their upright and locked position and my ideological seat belt is fastened securely. You can’t blame a man for that. I fear it is going to be a bumpy ride.