For the last couple of
years I’ve been off balance. I thought I was part of the majority. I was much
surprised to learn that I’m not in the mainstream. I thought that Americans
were kind and good and tolerant. Now I find that tolerance is no longer a
staple of our national diet. We’re consuming more and more junk food. Conduct
that I would have considered laughable and sophomoric is now considered
appropriate in polite society.
What I once considered to
be scientific fact has now been declared fiction. Though the weather worldwide
appears to be becoming more and more extreme and storms are more frequent and devastating,
nothing has changed. No action is needed. It’s just the natural cycle. We don’t
need to plan such disasters. The international scientific community is
mistaken. None of these threats is being exacerbated by people. There is no
need for international concern about climate change.
What we should be worried
about is the influx of foreigners who are fleeing the intolerable conditions of
their homelands. Forget about the history of previous migrations of the Irish,
Chinese, Germans and Scandinavians who flocked to our shores during the last
two centuries bringing their strange languages and food. All of us became
Americans by immigration. Even the Native Americans got here by making a
long pilgrimage from their place of origin.
Those earlier immigrants
came with few belongings, but had the desire to make a better life for their
families. They learned the language, worked long hours for low wages and sent
their children to the public schools. Most of us now are only a few generations
removed from our own ancestors who walked off ships and registered at Ellis
Island. There is currently huge interest in seeking out those ancestors. My
siblings are sending in their test kits and getting the reports back that show
what we knew all along. We came from a variety of places in Europe. Our roots
are not from this continent, but our ancestors chose this place because they
hoped it would provide opportunities that were not available in their home
villages. They came here and adapted to a new culture and language.
Over the years other
immigrants to this country suffered at the hands of those who had arrived in
previous decades. There was persecution of the Irish, Italians, Chinese, and
other groups who came here seeking prosperity. Most of them came by choice, but
some came because they were captured and sold into slavery or arrived as
indentured servants. Our ancestors survived and thrived in spite of the slurs and
poor treatment they received. They took the lowest level jobs and worked their
way up. Eventually they became shop owners, union workers, doctors
and lawyers.
It appeared that the
assimilation had begun to level out and we were accepting each other
as Americans. Then the towers fell. Since September 11, 2001 we’ve
become paranoid. We fear and distrust anyone who is not of our immediate community.
That mistrust prevents us from living with the spirit of generosity and optimism that we
shared before 9/11.
Now we behave with suspicion
of anyone who is different. Instead of giving one another the benefit of
the doubt, we’ve adopted the “my way or the highway” approach to human
relations. Now bullying, road rage, mass shootings
and protests are rampant. We call ourselves a “Christian” nation, but ignore Christ’s
admonition to love our neighbors as ourselves and to turn the other cheek. We claim the banner of Christianity, but don’t practice its tenets. We’ve
regressed to the Old Testament law of an eye for an eye while discarding the
teaching of the One who came fulfill the law by showing God’s love and
forgiveness to all.
I didn’t think we were
like that, but it seems that I’m out of touch with mainstream America.
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