Where We’re Headed

I had an interesting conversation a few days ago with an old friend about grandchildren, loss of family members, other old friends and we remembered fondly the days in Houston when we worked together to help elect President George H.W. Bush to his first office as a Congressman from Houston—my first foray into the world of politics.
The last time we saw each other was at the Kennedy Center, where my theatre group performed a play based on the 1917 Houston mutiny of a battalion of Buffalo Soldiers, as part of a Texas Celebration sponsored by the White House.

I told him that we performed at several military installations after that and that our play was the last entertainment seen by many servicemen and women before they left for Desert Storm.
We talked about the tragedy in Tucson and today’s political climate and how we both felt that too many media organizations are not being held accountable for what they feed the American populace.

I made the point that most of the information shows are disguised as news and are merely opinions based not so much on fact but rather express an ideology that accepts no other opinion. He said, “Yeah Sage, but you will sometimes find a solid and impassioned case based on the piece of truth that serves to benefit the listeners of each of those opinion makers.”

I said, yeah Mike, that’s true but no one agrees on what the whole truth is anymore. We both laughed at the truth and the absurdity of our arguments.

We talked about peace and civility in our Land of the Free and Home of the Brave and noted that a nationwide celebration for a man who lost his life seeking equality and peace was happening in a few days.

He also shared with me a concern he had about his elderly mother and the frenzied state she was in the last time he talked with her. She lives in Florida and listens frequently to the ‘opinions’ of two of she and her friends’ favorite opinionated talking heads on TV and radio.

His mother keeps calling him fearful about what she should do because ‘there is this terrible man in the White House that is going to send big goons to take them out of their homes and do the worst imaginable things to them.’

At 87 she wants him to bring her a gun she can use for protection! Even though this sounded crazy, it was not something I could laugh at and I could sense his obvious distress in how to deal with it to his mother’s satisfaction and peace of mind and at the same time do his job as a speech writer for people who espouses the rhetoric as a sport.

We couldn’t believe we were having this conversation when the issues about guns, protection, loud opinionated voices and civility had just become a wake-up call in light of the shootings in Tucson.
My heart went out to him because he knew I understood the position he was in.

The only advice I could offer was for him to explain to his mother the necessity for a ratcheted up version of a party’s ideology and then offer her a piece of the whole truth. He laughed.
The tragedy in Tucson is a game changer. Our lawmakers must accept that and act accordingly.

We can’t morph into a country of zealots and plan executions of our elected officials because we are told they are all bad people.
According to my friend, “We’re stronger and better than that.” I say let’s just see where we’re headed, shall we?