ONE DAY IN AMERICA

 

It started like an ordinary day. A little busier than lately, but not otherwise remarkable, or so it seemed at first. Just get up, brush my teeth, take care of some correspondence, go to Physical Therapy, vote, pick up a few groceries at a store near the polling place, and attend a Mass for the Feast of All Souls.

On the way out of the building, I said good morning to the Belizean-American doorman. In the taxi to Physical Therapy, I tried to talk with the driver, but his English was so heavily accented I could hardly understand him, so I didn’t pursue it. I think he was Russian. He was listening to a radio shock jock rant about how “they” are destroying the country, and “we” will not allow it.

It was the first time I had been to Physical Therapy, and its location inside the building was not well marked. I was hobbling down a flight of stairs when a young Asian woman from a fitness studio in the basement met me and showed me to an elevator that went up to the Physical Therapy facility. Two therapists greeted me. Peter was a first-generation Thai-American. The other had a given name I couldn’t make out. Later I learned that it was common in Mapuche, an indigenous language spoken in Argentina, his native country. It meant jaguar. His surname was Mohammed. Afterward, I took a taxi to my polling place. The driver was an African-American.

The therapy had been more strenuous and fatiguing than I expected, so after voting, I skipped the grocery shopping I had meant to do and went directly home. I took a nap hoping to recover some energy, but I didn’t feel much better for it. Ann worked later than usual – right up till time to leave for church. We decided to stay home and bless the memories of departed loved ones by reading the All Souls service privately. We ordered Chinese food, which was delivered by a Hispanic guy on a bicycle.

As I said, it was a full day, but without much to remark in the activities. Its context, though, was another matter. It was election day in a country riven by seemingly unbridgeable differences.

Tucker Carlson and his ilk would have us believe that most of the people I encountered were a threat to the American way. They are here as a result of replacement efforts meant to increase the number of Democrats, and they are a clear and present danger to evangelical white Christian dominance. I wish Carlson et al had been with me on the day I’m describing. They would have seen that the people I ran into were no more undesirable than most of our forebears were when they arrived in this country. They were all hard working. Except possibly for the food delivery guy, they paid taxes. The best I could tell, they subscribed to common American values. And none of them, whatever their religious views, threatened my faith practices.

An aside here. There is a reasonable argument to be made for limiting the number of immigrants. Holding capacity is a reality, and how close we are to overpopulation is arguable. But the wholesale, fearful rejection of non-Europeans is a different matter.

In just the short time since the day I’ve described, our disagreements have grown more threatening, or so it seems to me.

Americans who fiercely oppose mask-wearing and vaccinations have persevered, preferring widespread sickness and death, lest the pandemic come under control and make the Democratic administration look good. Public discourse has devolved into a bar fight over the false dichotomy between the common good and personal freedom.

Congressman Gosar posted an anime cartoon showing Congresswoman Olivia-Cortez being murdered. Congresswoman Boebert has called Congresswoman Omar a jihadist and a terrorist. Violence against people who “look Asian” is increasing. Someone tried to set fire to a synagogue in Austin, and in my former neighborhood there, someone heaved a rock through a window in which a menorah was displayed.

E pluribus unum is beginning to seem hopelessly optimistic. Impossible even. Maybe not though. We liberal Christians and everyone else who is not burdened by fear of the “other” – all of us – could light menorahs in our windows and wear Muslim head scarves and push back more vigorously against every racist word or action we meet. Such measures might not change much, but we would not be like the “good Germans” – silent in the face of events that led to the holocaust.

 

 

 

 

 

5 thoughts on “ONE DAY IN AMERICA

    1. Dean/Sandy Foose

      Paul this one reminds me of the 4th of July commentary you did a few years from Saranac Lake. A wide distribution certainly among the less liberal Christians echoing Tucker would be helpful. How about as an opinion piece in the NYT.

      Reply
  1. Mary Jane Wilkie

    And of course, nobody talks about why immigrants come here. They do so not because they love us, but because they’re starving in their own countries. The U.S. has played a role in that, one that most people are not aware of. I’m more familiar with South America than other parts of the world, but I saw there how the U.S. was ALWAYS in the wrong side, always supporting dictators. I could go on, but won’t.

    Reply
  2. Tony Waickman

    Thanks for this, Paul. The question becomes how do we push back? Vote, obviously. However, I wonder if we could break up the our tribe vs your tribe conflict if we went back and talked about the actual underpinnings of a liberal democracy. It’s the sad question : What are the 5 liberties described in the 1st amendment? Apparently only 1/3 of Americans know what they are. I believe that we have to be able to describe the form of government that we are trying to defend before we can actually defend it from the forces of dictatorship/Trump-ism. Otherwise we are doomed to power politics, in the worst meaning of the phrase. Be well…..

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.