CyberBabble
Site-Seeing on the Internet

Hate the Symbol

Duff MacDonald
Mirror contributing writer

   Because of the magical TV home delivery of horror, the moment of impact seemed never-ending. Even as the tape looped relentlessly, transfixing and inoculating us to a desolate, heartless, soulless world, the people in the midst of this hell were already disproving that unbearable view.
   The days following September 11 have been an emotionally taxing and mentally exhausting period for our country. These days the dread of terrorism is never far from the front of our consciousness and, personally, my brain never seems to stop trying to digest what was improbable.
   The knee-jerk racist response of some Americans has me worried even more. On the 11th, I remember noticing something on TV that was just a blip, but it stuck in my mind because it was so overtly stereotypical that it seemed that it had to be a Hollywood creation. It happened when people started taking to the streets across the country in support of the rescue workers and in protest of the attack.
   There were a couple of good ol’ boys peeling about in a muscle car waving both the American flag and the Confederate flag and I thought to myself, “Uh oh, here it comes, the race card. Another reason to hate. Us versus them.”
   As we dry our tears, we must gather our wits. We’re burdened by the weight of the proclamation that this is the 21st century’s day of infamy, but we must not repeat the mistakes of the last century’s day of infamy and its aftermath.
   Admirably, both President Bush and Mayor Giuliani very early on urged people to be tolerant and reminded us that America is a diverse not a homogenous country. They said that there would be zero tolerance for hate crimes and I hope that bears out (www.tolerance.org/index.jsp). There’s been some coverage of prejudice on TV, but in general it hasn’t been satisfying. I’m waiting for some pearl of wisdom to fall from the media’s chalice.
   Hoping for some kind of ultimate illumination, I’ve listened intently to Ted Koppel, Dan Rather, Diane Sawyer, Wolf Blitzer, Judy Woodruff, Tom Brokaw Peter Jennings, Jess Marlow, Val Zavala, and Jim Lehrer, but for me, nothing from them filled that void. Reading newspapers and scouring the Internet has also left me unsatiated.
   I do believe in synchronicity. I was ready for it and it jumped off the shelf and into my hands. A few days ago while searching for a thrift store score, The Saturday Review Treasury, a 607-page collection of essays, articles, poems, and humor published in 1957 compiled from the magazine, The Saturday Review, was waiting for me for half a five spot.
   Not looking at the table of contents, or the index, I casually flipped through the book. And casual is relative here as this weighty tome is chock full of the writings of people like Jean-Paul Sartre, Thomas Wolfe, Albert Einstein and Joseph Campbell. But it was Eleanor Roosevelt’s (www.gwu.edu/~erpapers) contribution that was a revelation.
   From the July 4, 1942 edition of The Saturday Review of Literature (its original name) is First Lady Roosevelt’s (www.firstladies.org/ANNA_ROOSEVELT/
FL.HTMl) essay, “Must We Hate To Fight?” Her piece was published on the most patriotic day of our calendar and during what a majority feels was our most patriotic war.
   She explicitly addresses the same issues that we as a country face, yet again. “…It is always easier to build up contempt and dislike for that which is making us suffer than it is to force ourselves to analyze the reasons which have brought about these conditions and try to eliminate them.”
   This is probably the hardest pill to swallow, as our short sighted policy of supporting tyrants bites us back. Yes, the CIA trained, employed, armed, and funded Osama bin Laden (www.msnbc.com/
news/190144.asp#BODY) and (www.timesofindia.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=
595320017).
   Roosevelt (www.udhr.org/index.htm) continues, talking about differentiating between individuals and systems. “Somehow as a whole the thousands in our fighting forces must preserve a belief and a respect for the individual and a hate only of the system, or else we will go down ourselves, victims of the very system which today we are striving to conquer.”
   Realistically, this is the only way we can look at the conflict, especially considering the even greater interdependence in the world today as compared to during World War II, when the First Lady (personalweb.smcvt.edu/smahady/ercover.htm) wrote the following words. “If we allow the hate of other men as individuals to possess us, we cannot discard hate the day we have won and suddenly become understanding and co-operative neighbors.”
   Unfortunately, I cannot quote Eleanor Roosevelt’s (ervk.org) entire essay (it is available in the book, Courage in a Dangerous World ISBN: 0231111819, Columbia U.) but consider her forward thinking and how applicable her prose is to our planet’s current predicament. “If those who say that to win the war we must hate, are really expressing the beliefs of the majority of our people, I am afraid we have already lost the peace, because our main objective is to make a world in which all the people of the world may live with respect and good will for each other in peace.”
   Email CyberBabble: duffmacdonald@yahoo.com.