The World According to Opa

“If ever the time should come, when vain & aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.” ~ Samuel Adams

Today is the 4th of July, 2018. Some of the folks on our street are displaying the Stars and Stripes, but I won’t be among them. I’m not in the mood for fireworks, for patriotic parades, or even for hot dogs and beer on the lake with friends. At this time in our nation’s history, I’m actually ashamed of us, of whom we’ve become. Or is it that this is how we’ve always been, our professed love for truth and justice just a show? With Donald Trump as our president, our ugly underbelly is now exposed for all to see, the American Way mocking the twin ideals of Truth and Justice.

A third of us seem to be happy with this ugliness being on display. Maybe it validates how they feel. A third of us seem not to care about it so long as certain agendas get done. A third of us are despondent – sick to the core about it.

I wonder how our Founding Fathers would feel. Would they be aghast or likewise divided emotionally? Were they as noble and visionary as we imagine, or were they just rich, exclusionist elites banding former colonies together for mutual advantage – profit and security?

Anthony Hopkins, acting in the movie, Amistad, as former President, John Quincy Adams, gave us perhaps a clue to the above question. He had a great line addressing members of the Supreme Court. He was arguing in the defense of blacks who had rebelled after having been stolen into slavery from West Africa by Spanish slavers.

Knowing what the justices all knew, that at the time this event took place in America, the import of slaves was illegal in all states, he asked them whether we were still worthy of the famous line in the Declaration of Independence, “All men are created equal.” He then referred to busts of the Founding Fathers aligning one wall of the courtroom. He called to them by name for guidance, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams…  Then he said to the justices who must decide the fate those who were born free but whose freedom was deprived from them in the pursuit of profit, “Who we are is who we were.” — How prophetic… It seems, Samuel, as though the time has come.

I love my country but, when we travel abroad again this summer, I think I’ll try to sound like an Australian. We were going to visit Vietnam this year after a spending some time with our kids who live in Singapore. But maybe we would do better to just hang out with our kids at their place.

Please feel free to comment on this post.