Lost in the Cosmos

When I was a kid my father had a book called Autumn Across America by Edwin Way Teal - it was one of my very favorite books. My father often read parts of it to me and then, later on, I read it by myself. I don’t know who Edwin Way Teal was but he sure loved the earth and all its beauties. I learned a lot from him.

Tomorrow begins October. How did that happen? This happens every year - from the 1st of August until the new year I cannot get enough hours in any given day. I love the way the air smells and the quality of the light on sunny days and the mysterious, timeless gloom of gray days. Autumn is thinking time - not that you don’t think all year round but at this time of the year the tendency to just start thinking about something and get “lost in the cosmos”, as I have always called it, becomes irresistible.

I have been thinking a lot lately about my country. Like Edwin Way Teal, I find it so beautiful and, at the same time, I am becoming fearful of the people who populate it. On the one hand I am absolutely dumbfounded and awed by the generosity of people who are helping those ravaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. On the other hand I am appalled and horrified by the misbehavior of many. But worse than all of that, to my mind, is that even these two great tragedies - literally of Biblical proportions - have been viewed by way too many as an opportunity to increase the polarization of political agendas and, worse, to further demonize those who do not agree with them.

Yesterday I had the radio on and was listening to Bill O’Reilley. O’Reilley is the kind of guy I love to hate. He’s smart, he’s mouthy, he’s an arrogant twit at times but... damn, I find myself agreeing with him a lot. Yesterday, O’Reilley was talking about the current trend of political extremists to utterly and completely savage “them” - the people they don’t agree with. He used the demonization of Hilary Clinton as an example. It was interesting. O’Reilley was talking to callers who were calling her “evil” and he was questioning the use of that word - he never got a straight answer. I was quite impressed with him for doing that.

I’m worried about this demonization. Nothing good can come of it and it seems to be growing year by year. If a guy like O’Reilley is willing to speak out about it, I am even more concerned.

For quite a few years I was an active participant in a few message boards that strayed into the area of politics and social commentary. Few of the participants were either savvy or ambitious enough to do more than hammer out complaints on an internet message board but the exchanges became heated. Several times I questioned my own sanity for even participating but there was something fairly addictive about the parry and thrust of the discussions. During that time I became aware of the increase in polarization and the intensification of demonizing those who took a different view (I got royally lambasted when I admitted I got a kick out of O’Reilley).

The straw that broke this camel’s back was when a poster whom I had thought of as a friend - someone I had had lunch with and shared personal information - got offended when I disagreed with her on an issue. It wasn’t enough to tell me I was wrong to think the way I did, she added to it by nasty attacks on my integrity, my intellect, my honesty, and followed it up with public revelations of personal things discussed at lunch. I concluded I was no longer dealing with a sane person and quietly bowed out.

Autumn is upon us. The days are glorious and the nights are keen and bright. We live in a land of astonishing beauty. What has happened to us that we are not content with disagreement and debate? Why do we need to turn those who see things differently into monsters - or into animals? That is a very bad path to walk. It has been walked in Germany, and in Yugoslavia, and in Haiti, and in many other places. We need to wise up and wise up fast. Winter is coming soon.

Thanks for reading.