The emotional crescendo that occurred on 9/11 is over, and we’re back to “normal.” We remembered the lost, we remembered our grief, and now we’re standing in line at the grocery store again, scanning the tabloid headlines, contemplating all the trivial details of which our lives consist. Naval gazing. Maybe it’s our nature, to settle in and live with the lowest common denominator. Maybe we’re no longer capable of sustaining anything.
I long for us to have a sense of purpose as a nation. I long for the infighting to stop, and for us to unite and fight against our common enemy. I long for a Churchill to step up and exhort us to win. I long for a leader who will ask us all to join the fight, who will demand the sacrifices of us which will make us feel like we’re actually a part of this war, even though we can’t all serve on the front lines. I want to be Rosie the Riveter, or Jimmy Stewart in “It’s A Wonderful Life” collecting tires or patrolling the neighborhood with his whistle, making sure everyone’s windows are blacked out. I want to serve in any capacity, however humble, alongside my compatriots, to be a small cog in the machine that will roll over the enemy. Because nothing is demanded of us, it’s easy to disconnect from it and not be invested in winning.
Will anything move us to the kind of sustained effort needed to win? If 9/11 did not, I shudder to think what could. The peace of submission and dhimmitude awaits. If we can’t be united in our freedom, we will surely be united in our slavery.
I have a couple of thoughts. I think the constant new blitz we recieve emotionally wears us out and after a while when things don’t seem to change we tell ourselves this is just the way life is. Another thought is that we are entertaining ourselves to death and are no longer interested in doing the hard work and making the tough sacrifices it takes to bring about change. A third thought (which makes it more than a couple) is that we lack real leadership to call us to something we want to give our lives away too. It is true for our nation as well as for the church.
Agreed. As for a solution… I’m completely stumped. I just try to remember that this is not my home – that my true citizenship is not in this world. Thank God for prayer… it’s a way of taking action when no other action is feasible.
You both are part of the solution, Laura. What you’re doing here IS the small cog in the machine. You are not doing this for money or notoreity …you’re doing it because of an inner need to speak out and spread your views responsibly. Even when people don’t necessarily come here and then state it, you are making a difference. Collectively, it is a big difference and you know that, don’t you? It is what drives you to find the most precious commodity we possess, time, and contribute your insights and your faith. You weave it between all the other life responsibilities in your day and still manage to do that extra part. You do it repeatedly (and well) motivated only by your decency. The question, I believe, is whether the masses will “get it” in time. That’s not for us to decide. But you both should sleep soundly knowing that you already are Rosey and Jimmy. Hopefully, there is another Ronnie out there, too.
Thanks, DI… and I agree that the “101st keyboardists” do contribute something by countering the defeatists, but I do want to do so much more. And I think I’m not alone in this. If we could invest ourselves in this effort, it would drown out the apologists and the cut-and-runners. I think one thing we overlook, because we prize our independence so much, is that we also want to be part of something bigger than ourselves. From the man who joins the rotary to the kid who joins a gang, we seek to be part of a bigger movement… and this war would suddenly become a lot more popular if people felt like they were part of the effort to win. It’s very frustrating.