Where is our center?

Did you ever wake up in the morning with nothing to say? I haven’t. What I have to say may not always make sense but I never run out. This morning, for example, I can’t help thinking about the center of things. For example, consider the center of the Universe. We, somehow think we are it. Sad thing is, we’re not. I’m not sure we even know where the center of the Universe is. It’s where the Big Bang started, but have we located it yet? If we have, let me know, and don’t tell me it is in Arkansas.

Then consider things moral and political. Those used to be linked, you know, at least occasionally. Anyway, it’s tough times, the way I look at things, for those who would have us cling to a centrist view of our amazing Universe and try to see things from a balanced perspective.

No such luck. We are drawn with increasing force to either end of polar extremes. On the one end is a philosophy of greed, meanness, and selfishness. On the other end is silliness, self-destruction, and a shortsighted obsession with perfection as perceived by the perceiver.

Pity the poor centrist. Like the old hobo with one hand grasping an east-bound tanker, and the other on a fast-tracking freighter headed for the Golden Gate, we risk being pulled apart by indecision.

When I parted amicably with the United States Navy, I had what I considered a fairly small repertoire of wants.

I wanted a nice job in a respected profession. (Done)

I wanted to marry an exceptionally fine woman. (Done)

I wanted us to have a home of our own, (Done)

I wanted to read the entire works of William Faulkner. (Still working on it)

I wanted to develop a cadre of exceptional friends. (Done and continuing)

I wanted to learn to play the banjo. (Questionable progress, and in conflict with the preceding.

I wanted to be left alone and to bother no one. (More and more difficult)

I wanted to be a positive force in helping my former shipmates of various minority persuasions overcome the national resistance to their success in achieving what was possible for me.

For the last item, I thought we were making progress. Educational opportunities expanded. Jobs opened. Positive role models appeared in TV and film. (Sometimes)

Housing opportunities … well … not much progress there but signs were positive.

Our national corpus wasn’t healed, but was improving.

Then along came Barack Obama.

Oh my lord!

How could one man create such a subterranean monster of hatred? It rose, and is still stomping on our dreams and opportunities. The Center folded and the extremes dropped anchor in separate but equally dangerous shoals.

There, today, we ride the rough waves that will carry us into the future. Outside this morning, I continue to hear a destructive rain that seems never to stop. Up north, it’s snowing in May. These are results of our refusing to respect the fragility of our planet. Can the Center pull us back to within a safe harbor of reason and rational thinking? I don’t know.

I hope so, though