The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it. -HL Menchken
I was sharing with a young person of 25 what coming of age during the late 60's and 70's in Northern California was like for me. As I shared my memories I was struck by how much of what happened during that time mirrors what is happening in America right now. The difference seems to be that there was no Facebook, 4Chan, Pinterest, Reddit etc. to contend with, which translates into not being assaulted by the various memes, declarations, assertions and demands seen daily on the internet. One was rarely aware that the next door neighbor thought there was a giant computer in the basement of the Vatican with everyone's name in it or that there are Hybrid Lizard people running Fox News.
This does not mean we were immune to other people's crazy. I am from the Bay Area. We lived through assassinations, peaceful sit-ins at lunch counters, marches across bridges and watched in horror as men in uniforms we had been taught to respect unleashed dogs on people demanding an equal chance at the American Dream. We saw student uprisings, riots, bombings, kidnappings, and serial killers. The newspapers printed manifestos from Liberation Armies that were usually made up of about 7 to 10 kids who had dropped out of UC Berkeley or Stanford to 'join the struggle'. Airplanes were hijacked. Police Officers stalked and murdered. At one point a hit squad of murderers were on the streets of The City shooting only white people. Politics were brutal and crazy and every once in awhile someone with a religious bent would grab the attention of the public and predict either the end of the world as we know it or declare that the anti-christ was already here and leading the people of (Fill In Name of Exotic Country Here).
Drugs were flooding the streets and starting to hit close to home. Women were told that killing their unborn child was nobodies business but their own and that it would open up a world of freedom beyond their wildest dreams. Men were told they weren't that important - unless someone needed them to put on a uniform and run willy-nilly into gun fire.
And don't get me started on Disco.
My point is that people were mulling over the same kind of emotional garbage we are mulling over now. Again, there were conspiracy theories all over the place and it was not unusual for the guy at the corner Barber Shop to hold forth about what is 'really happening in Washington'.
And everyone had a solution. There was a solution to racism, to the lack of opportunity for people of color, for the problem of disenfranchised voters.
The 'good old days' were riddled with problems, shot through with ugliness and yet we also had amazingly beautiful things happening. We had people trying to do better, trying to listen and trying to understand and the remnants of those people are a lot of my friends today.
I used to think I was being baited on social media. Surely that Catechist I have worked with for the last 5 years does not think that Michelle Obama is a transexual. I will answer their post with a witty reply because of COURSE they are kidding, right?
Oh hell no....oh hell SQUARED to the no.... so I stopped. If their post or meme is flat out stupid, poorly thought out or an obvious way to provoke people like me I scroll on by - because if they put it up there in the first place, they are not willing to engage in a dialogue and if they are not willing to engage in a dialogue no amount of calm and rational thought will penetrate their "everyone is out to get us quick to the bunker with the women and the children while the men man the ramparts" mentality.
People do not want to look at history of 200 years ago and see how it shapes society today. I cannot imagine they would be willing to look at history of 50 years ago and ask questions. Instead you see things like this: I never owned a slave so none of this applies to me.
Okay.
Instead, today I will join in on Day 3 of the 54-Day Novena for our Nation that my parish is doing. You can join us too.
https://youtu.be/zMkHiAgGd9Y
See you in 20 minutes!
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