I just finished reading The Plunging Morale of America’s Service Members over at The Atlantic. In light of the US-GB-FR joint strike on Syria, I think it’s a worthy read about the importance we place on our military and how we’ve ignored the holistic strategy that our military interventions require.
Plunging morale is an apt descriptor of the current state of our country. Not only are the members of the military having difficulty articulating what it is they’re fighting for, so too are we struggling to explain what this America is. What this America stands for.
I think it’s easy to say that America still stands for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That we care about promoting representative democracy here and abroad. We hold Truth to be self-evident, all people are created equal, powers are derived from the consent of the governed, we will make no laws restricting speech, etc.
Today, those words are reminiscent of the massive American Flag unfurled before a football game. They look like a service member getting their seats upgraded at a baseball game. It sounds like that Lee Greenwood song that plays during the July 4th fireworks finale. American citizens increasingly seem to be singing the songs and dancing the dance, but have we forgotten what it took to compose the waltz in the first place?
What I mean is, if you’re a conservative and you vote down ballot for GOP candidates sight unseen, you’ve forgotten how this sonnet was composed. If you’re a liberal and think there was no issue with the elites of the Democratic party deciding on Clinton before the people got to see all their options, you’ve ignored the dedication it took to take a chunk of rock and form it into David. If you’re a moderate and say that neither party represents you and throw your hands up at the whole situation, how dare you lay your eyes on amber waves of grain or the majesty of purple mountains. These are just a few examples.
This whole American experiment takes sacrifice and dedication. Americans don’t just wrap the Stars and Stripes around their shoulders and revel in our greatness. America demands we put our bodies to the wheel and force change. When we see a problem, we go and solve it. And right now the problem I see is the people. People who don’t want to accept we’re in an incredibly dangerous place with this Presidency. Fellow Americans who are too tired, too beaten down by the polarization of the media or the parties. My own family members who would rather throw their hands in the air and say “What can I do? Politics is too confusing. People are a mystery.”
And worst of all, the sickness of individualism lets people absolve themselves. To wipe away the fact that every single one of us is responsible for this moment in American history. When “respect your elders” becomes “don’t talk back” instead of “don’t allow them to spout bullshit,” we arrive at this moment. When we assume “all politicians are self serving and bad, regardless of party” we arrive at this moment. When we just accept what we are told, without developing any capacity to sniff out BS in its new forms, we arrive at this moment. The world is ever changing and growing and we must change with it. To stick your head in the sand and say that you’ve done enough to fight for a better country, is to abdicate your responsibility. Enough does not exist, we must always fight harder. MLK Jr. famously said “…the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” Fight for the bend, and recognize how your own choices have fought the curve.
Recently a man whom is very special to me has used a turn of phrase to explain his view of management at our very different jobs. He says “I’m always hearing ‘If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.’ That’s just inaccurate. If 10% of the people are trying to solve the problem, and 10% of people are stirring things up or making it hard to solve the problem, where does that leave the other 80% of us? We’re not part of the problem, we’re trying to keep our head down and do our jobs.”
I’ve been pondering that for a while now, because it hits my ear funny. It sounds like it’s true, but I don’t know that it is. No matter if we’re talking about an organization or a team, a political party or in this case our country, all of those things are collective efforts of a group of people.
The problem with saying you’re part of the 80%, that you don’t agree with the leaders or the vocal minority, is it betrays a level of self interest that has delivered us to this moment in America. No man is an island. We are the sum of the collective choices we and the people around us have made. If you’re the 80% and ignore the other 20%, you’re consigning yourself to whomever wins that battle. 100% of people in a group are identified by that group. The members of the group need to hold the other members accountable, or they need to leave the group.
It’s time to reject individualism and take up the mantle of community. It’s time to stop absolving ourselves of the “bad apples” and recognize we’re all growing on this tree. The the sickness that is in one of us can easily take hold in all of us. It takes painful discussions and raw emotions and calling out the people you care about most when they show signs of the sickness of individualism. Maybe they don’t realize they’re sick, but they need to be offered the care it takes to get better.
Good Low Opinions 