Try saying some words of hope

What color is your country's future?

Tide of Hope

Mom used to say, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." While it was meant to muzzle childish snipes and complaining, she was more correct than not. I wish for a world where the bile, venom and vitriol already rising around this week's election could be stanched for a period of grace. So insults like mulatto, fervent threats like "hope he gets shot before inauguration" and "as a country we're screwed" didn't get a shot at shattering the hope of us all working together.

I know, if hope is shattered that easily, then it still isn''t strong enough to endure. But I read those things yesterday from college-educated, otherwise sensible adult males about my age (50 or so). This crew already hates how things turned out Tuesday. Whether we can accept it easily or not, the voting was about our tomorrows and how we might make them better. Mulatto, cracker, these kind of words and spirits just keep us locked up in the past. Our election was about a path into the future. To be honest, there's a lot less of that future that we fellas of 50-plus will live through than the next generation, like my kids of ages 25 through their 30s. They've got to live in this world that's been broken much longer than I do. Do we all have to holler like Mr. Wilson? "You kids get off my lawn!"

Barack Obama carried young voters by a margin of 2:1. If it's not a crime to wish the President-elect gets shot, it's at least an anarchist slur. If our country made a habit of killing off politicians who faced opposition, we could have a government on par with Uganda or Somalia. Wishing death on somebody that you disagree with is a dark, sad, hopeless and desperate place to live in. We're better than that, or we can be. Yes, you can live in a place of hope.

"Our mullatto president" was offered up as cynicism. That phrase goes beyond just that. Being a fellow who works words, I'm always looking at my dictionary, although I think I understand what using that word intends, even while you  argue what the word "cynic" means. Mulatto means that racism isn't dead yet — nobody ever claimed it was yesterday — and there's going to be just a blink of a honeymoon for our new President. In the end, the biggest barriers we must climb are the ones that make us feel different on the basis of appearance: gender and race. Women didn't vote in a majority for Sarah Palin. Whites voted in a majority for Obama. Maybe we're taking some steps toward respect.

If you want cynicism of a professional style, rent Bullworth. In this arch satire on American politics, Warren Beatty plays an incumbent Senator whose re-election campaign has gone rogue: He's had an epiphany that everyone should be represented, not just the biggest contributors to a campaign. Jada Pinkett Smith plays a major role in the movie, and at one point Bullworth offers a solution to embracing race. Loving, he says, or more specifically, "We should all just keep f---ing each each other until we're all the same shade."

Can we put away the paper bag skin color tests and grow up? Stop taking that pound of flesh? Maybe mom would be prouder, whether she's white or not. Bless us all, even when we disagree. We need strong unity to get through the hard times at hand.

Comments

[Cindy A]

It gets worse, Ron.

[RonSeybold]

It had to get worse in our country, for things like community to have a chance at getting better. It's better than I don't stick my head into an ant-pile with all of this toxic stuff. I've got a complementary article about doing this filtering on the Newswire blog at http://3000newswire.blogs.com/3000_newswire/2008/11/ot-outta-there.html

Let's keep the hope alive and help wherever we can, help to bring us together.

[Cindy A]

Well, it took those words. The "it gets worse" comment was longer and originally related to my daughter coming home after the election and saying kids in her fifth grade class were saying they hoped Obama was assassinated. We were horrified that anyone would say such a thing, but fifth graders...

Let's see if this message gets truncated.