Before writing yesterday's post on Nailing Jello, I had gone back and read all of my earlier posts beginning with the early days of Barack Obama's 2008 primary campaign and continuing up through the first 100 days of Donald Trump's presidency. I had forgotten many of the posts and had certainly not remembered posting a video clip of a "Chamma Chamma" dance scene from a Bollywood movie or my letter to the editors of the Valley Morning Star (our local newspaper) when I cancelled my subscription while lecturing them about my faith in America's marketplace of ideas and its power to resist the vile message of modern day Nazis. I also was reminded that I had early on posted a permanent link on Nailing Jello to a fantasy tale titled The Rhinoceros Who Quoted Nietzsche by Peter S. Beagle. All of those things, plus the movie Jeremiah Johnson, are quirky security blankets which I resort to from time to time for mostly inexplicable reasons -- inexplicable at least to most everyone but me. I will try to shed some light on those reasons in a moment -- not that anyone asked or maybe even cares.
Today is the day when most of America celebrates the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I was reflecting about him this morning and reading excerpts from a number of his speeches. One quote triggered me to think about my weird security blankets and why, of all the blog posts, those were the ones that struck me during my stroll through past thoughts. In his April 3, 1968 "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech the day before he was assassinated, Dr. King responded to God's rhetorical question regarding the age in human history he would most like to live in by saying,
Strangely enough, I would turn to the Almighty, and say, 'If you allow me to live just a few years in the second half of the 20th century, I will be happy.' Now that's a strange statement to make, because the world is all messed up. The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land; confusion all around. That's a strange statement. But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars. And I see God working in this period of the twentieth century in a way that men, in some strange way, are responding.
Well, I think perhaps it may have finally gotten dark enough on January 6 when a nation watched in horror as crazed Trump cult members stormed the Capitol with blood curdling threats of murder and execution. It may have gotten dark enough because many of those invaders were ordinary Americans who had been hypnotized and lulled over the last four years by Trump, the authoritarian narcissistic con-man, and his avalanche of lies.
I am thinking that Dr. King was right and that it has finally gotten dark enough that we may be able to see the stars going forward. I feel like we may be awakening and coming up for air after a four-year nightmare. In part, the survival of our democracy may be due to a couple of bedrock security blankets built into our Constitution and into our national psyche. Both are security blankets which I have fervently believed in for my entire life.
The first is an independent judiciary that almost always falls back on the principle that the United States of America is a nation of laws and not of men. Even Trump's own appointees to the Supreme Court and to district and appellate courts across the country resisted and came through when it counted the most. When I was in law school fifty years ago, I almost always viewed the cases decided on the basis of standing or lack of standing as cop outs by judges who were unwilling to decide issues on the merits. Well, over the last several months, I have finally come to appreciate that I may have been wrong. Of the sixty or more lawsuits filed by Trump and his allies and insane legal team, almost all of them have been dismissed for lack of standing.
The second national security blanket is the protection provided by that marketplace of ideas I referred to in my subscription cancellation letter to the Valley Morning Star and the collision between that marketplace and the First Amendment rights of assembly and free speech. Our nation has been able to survive actual Nazis marching in Skokie with their swastikas and vile hatred, and now we are in the midst of struggling to survive another version of nationalist white supremacy and venom spouted by our own president and his enablers. Although I have had my doubts from time time over the last four years, I am now believing that the overwhelming majority of Americans will reject this latest version as well.
Hopefully, I will soon be able to go back to my own personal security blankets -- Chamma Chamma, the philosopher rhino and Professor Gottesman, and Jeremiah. They each give me comfort, and I resort to them often.
I have never been able to explain or even understand myself why the Bollywood dancers in Chamma Chamma lift my spirits but they do no matter how many times I watch the video clip. During this god-awful pandemic, my understanding spouse and I have even used our own version of Chamma Chamma to prove to our kids that we are alive and well. I would post that video here but I am afraid that Merced would either divorce or murder me.
I am not a religious person; however, I do believe in angels. My own mother and my wife's mother are definitely angels and watch over us and our family from somewhere in the universe. I also have an undying affection for rhinos. They are my spirit animal. Years ago, I came across Peter Beagle's fantasy tale about a mythical rhinoceros who is a companion and soulmate to a philosophy professor in his final years. In the end, the rhino is undoubtedly an angel who comforts Professor Gottesman and eases his final journey. It is a tranquil tale, and I have read it many times. When a friend or family member loses someone or is having a bad time of it for any reason, I will often send them a copy of this story and Michael Dashow's wonderful cover illustration of the rhino and professor in conversation. I am sure the recipients wonder if I have lost my mind but perhaps my security blanket gives them a little comfort too even if they don't understand why.
For those who are not familiar with Jeremiah Johnson, it is a movie about the resilience of the human spirit in the face of trials and challenges. It is also about the strength of character and kindness. I have watched it dozens of times and never tire of it.
My own security blankets may seem to others to be the height of silliness but, after the last four years, it would be nice to enjoy a little singing and dancing, some reading, and a movie. It has been dark enough long enough that we deserve a little star gazing.
No comments:
Post a Comment