Symbol Watcher

America has a long tradition of being afraid. Sure, we tell ourselves “land of the free and home of the brave” but those are most often aspirations and not the reality of our day-to-day collective mindset.

I suppose it’s understandable when we consider our founders took over the place by spreading disease, making shady land deals and conducting all-out acts of violence.  When you begin a venture by muscling it away from someone else–and then build it up on the backs of slaves–you’rebound to be afraid that somehow, some way, somebody’s going to come along and do the same thing to you. 

If you’ve watched the haves’ reaction to the possibility of the have nots gaining access to health care, you know what I mean. The “discourse” from some groups that oppose the health-care reform bill has been filled with the kind of vitriol and threats that arise only when people become very, very afraid. 

When House Democrats locked in the needed votes to pass health-care reform on Sunday, some bill protesters actually voiced their opposition by calling certain members of Congress ”niggers” and “baby killers” and deriding Barney Frank because he’s gay. When voices devolve into blind anger, when commentary wanders so far from the central issue, we can be certain a great deal of fear is festering at the root. 

It happens every time the country struggles to become better than it is. From the abolition of slavery, to women’s suffrage, to the civil rights movement, to the struggle for gay rights, whenever America makes another effort to include the have nots–in this case the millions of uninsured or underinsured–the haves  become gripped with fear and the animal aggression so characteristic of the emotion.

“If we give to them, that means it’ll be be taken away from me. If they get more, I’ll get less. After all, there can’t be enough for everyone.”  Or, worse, “They’re less than I am, so they don’t deserve to [be free, vote, own property, get married, receive a basic education, have access to affordable medical care].”  You fill in the blank.

We Americans have gotten into an increasingly bad habit since the economic boom days following WW II. The more powerful we’ve become, the more stuff we’ve managed to horde for ourselves, the more afraid we’ve become to stand up for the mistreated and underrepresented. 

Somehow, we can always find money to protect ourselves from outside threats–real or imagined–or to fund wars that we hope will ensure our foothold in countries whose resources we need. But we can’t manage to allocate any of our wealth to help insure all our citizens have an equal opportunity for life-saving health care. 

We need to stop and remember that every time we contribute to someone else’s basic human dignity by giving them the same BASIC RIGHTS some of us already have, we mange to do it equitably. Such is the case with health-care reform: the haves still have, but they no longer have it at the cost of those who don’t. 

–Writeye

P.S. I know this entry didn’t have a thing to do with symbolism but the amount of fear in this country needs to be recognized and discussed. 

Posted on March 23rd, 2010 under Current Events •  Print This Post •  Email This Post • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback