Into Every Life, a Little Rain Must Fall

In less than a month, we celebrate our Semiquincentennial, but it doesn't feel much like a party atmosphere, does it?  We have so many daunting challenges facing us here in the Land of the Round Doorknobs that we're in danger of being overwhelmed.

Who knew life would get so hard after the fall of the Evil Empire? Seriously. 

I grew up a Cold War kid taught to duck under his wooden desk in Mrs. Hilge's 3rd grade classroom on the top floor of St Peter's (sic) School in New Brunswick, NJ, and to turn my face away from the window (like that would help in the event of a nuclear attack). Of course, my classmates and I came of age in the Cuban Missile Crisis, and if you want to read quaint, it would certainly qualify.

The world was so much easier when all we thought in was black and white. Now we're not only in color, but we're also in high definition. But if we are, how come so much is so fuzzy so often?

We used to celebrate our ability to disagree and not be disagreeable, e pluribus unum; out of many, one. Those days are over. And the horse you rode in on. Now we're all about Shut the F-well, you know what you can shut, and we have operators standing by to make you do it, so don't you make us, okay? 

Every time I think we're too shrill or strident, I count to ten, and we double down and turn it up to eleven again. Can you even imagine how totally screwed up our political discourse will be by the time we get to the Presidential election in 2028? Not me. 

Talk about spooky-we'll be in downtown Creep City by then. Everyone will be supporting a candidate who sets a neighbor's teeth on edge, makes a family member's skin crawl, and who elevates our own blood pressure so much we'll have folks croaking from Apoplexy Now.

I'm afraid we've lost sight of how important we are, especially to those who aren't us-but who have striven and streamed to arrive on our shores, by any means possible, in historic numbers since the Founding of the Republic. 

I hope we've only momentarily lost our way and not permanently lost our minds. If I could, I'd pray that more reasonable voices from all sides of the political spectrum could regain not only the middle ground but also our middle ear, so we might have a return to balance. We don't need to wave a million bloodied banners if we can follow the flag together. 
-bill kenny