It's been a while since I lasted posted but I wanted to pose a question to my fellow internet community. Do you feel any safer now than you did a year ago? Are we so concerned with the survival of our SUV's that we don't really gaze down the road of our country's future? When is the last time you and your friends discussed the state of America? Not the usual political diatribe but a calm discussion of the direction our leaders are guiding us toward.Now before I'm shouted down with the standard "you're either with us or against us" rhetoric let me tell you a story about a boss I used to work for. We had the usual staff meetings where the loudest problems were discussed and when the meeting inevitably started to stray he would stand up and shake a box of cereal that he kept near his chair and say, "Too much attention to the box and not enough attention to the cereal." And he was right.
Our meetings were at that point heading into areas involving our own turf wars about how we would either be rewarded or judged and very rarely concerned with solving the problem at hand. After this announcement my boss would force us to only talk about the facts. (Only the facts ma'am . . . ) Once we agreed on the facts, (and this was no small feat) than we would draw up a list of options. We would take five minutes to make our own individual cases with fear of reprisal. This involved introducing solutions not limited to budgets and resources. After we had all floated our "fantasy island" solutions, we would sometimes discover a solution in the workings of these proposals.
Last, we compared the possible damage and costs involved with our "pie in the sky" solutions. The interesting conclusion was once you looked at the costs and damage of doing nothing sometimes even a "fantasy solution" didn't look so out of place. Recommendations became less reactive and more proactive. Individual goals became less of a topic, and asking for advice no longer branded you a spineless wimp. Before you knew it we had a list of possible solutions.
My point is don't you wish someone with the power to be heard had stood up before we invaded Iraq and said, "I know we can do it, but then what? What happens when the borders collapse, what happens when Iraq's infrastructure is out of commission, what happens when people who never tasted freedom now have the free will to act, maybe even against us? What happens in the Middle East when we are viewed as bullies and not rescuers? What happens when order is replaced with chaos? When people have to choose between food and freedom? What happens to American soldiers and their families when many aren't given the resources to even defend themselves properly? What happens when heroes die without question? Is that a right? Is it right to not even ask if it's right?"
When we are shouted down by people waving the flag of freedom we have a problem. Open and honest discussions can only happen when both sides are willing to look beyond their own self-interests. (Even if that appears to be the patriotic choice . . . )
When people here at home are not even informed about their loss of freedoms because those in power know better than those who granted the power we have a problem. When a small body of leaders start a global conflict based upon even smaller intelligence we have a problem. We have quietly lost that which many died purchasing. Without a uproar. Without calm voices pulling aside the curtain of the absurd. Without silence guided by logical thought. Without the understanding that "We The People" means us. That TV isn't real life and the Internet is not always true.
As citizens of the United States of America we have responsibilities as well as rights. We have to work hard to retain the truths that are self-evident. We have to work hard at staying informed about the truth about our politicians and their motivations. We have to work hard at raising our voices when confronted with apathy and false truths.
This education begins at home but it must continue at school as well. We should educate as well as enlighten and teach how to separate opinions from facts. Instead, we have 500 channels of personality driven trivial which the uniformed public takes as the gospel. Or 500 million blogs telling us what our favorite movie star eats for breakfast. We have musicians and celebrities telling us how to vote because we lack the common sense and judgment to read and think for ourselves. Plus that would probably take longer than the fleeting silence between our cell phone ringing. So maybe we deserve the shiny, colorful, empty cereal box after all.
