Tolerance & Freedom

 

Through the shadows on the curtains, I can hear the roar of a CSX horn blow from across the road—a long line of tracks that run north from Atlanta, south to Brunswick’s Ports. It’s been an exhausting few weeks, first with relentless rain and then the humid heat, complicated by the fact we’ve had to suffer two weeks without a refrigerator.

​But beyond all that bullshit we put up with, presented to us by the faceless shareholders of a corporation, we now live in a country determined to bring back nostalgia, like it’s some comfortable chain to wear around our necks.

​I remember when the country turned 200 years old. It was 1976 and I was in the ninth grade. Our former Governor Jimmy Carter was running for President against President Gerald R. Ford. We had just lived through our uncles and our big brothers fighting in Vietnam, then witnessing every day as soaps and game shows were interrupted by the Watergate Hearings. The grownups were mad and I was mad, because I had to listen to all the fussing when all I wanted to do was watch Star Trek reruns after school.

​But 1976 seemed to bring out the best of us, a sort of national pride that had been lost in the early 70’s. And with the upcoming election, there seemed to be a new hope and optimism I had never seen, and I liked it.

​But God knows, through countless endless wars, one economic boom or bust after another, and increased politicization of everything, now I’m in my 60’s, no damn smarter than I was 50 years ago, staring at 250 years of America, not really feeling the same way. Where it once felt a bit optimistic to be an American, now I wonder with some dread where we are heading.

​Listen, I don’t mean to blow anybody’s red hat bubble. But at the moment, I still have the right to say what I feel. From pessimist to optimist and back again, it is getting to be a bit trying. So how about we all pick the side of tolerance and freedom for a change.

#Tolerance #Freedom #NoKings #Prospective #Awareness