America: Land of Hope

To paraphrase CNN political pundit Roland Wallace, just the mere fact that we have elected a Black man President does not automatically secure for us the legacy of the dream Dr. King spoke about. Obviously history has been made, however its historical significance has a hollow ring to it, if the election and inauguration are the culmination of all our efforts. In much the same way a bride works so hard to secure a husband only to stop her ministrations after the wedding day and watch the union end in shambles, it is no time for us to wallow in complacency. Having lived in, if not, blissful, then at least concerted, ignorance for many of the last eight years, one finds themselves perplexed by America's lack of confidence now. There is a dichotomy in place. People say one thing but their uncertainty belies their words. For some this was the unquantifiable fear and though they couldn't define it, they now recognize it come to fruition. That America's trust did not reach as far as her lip service.

In the Ruins of Middle America

Poor people in America know how to get by. The pang of empty stomachs and emptier wallets is no shock. They learn to live and if they don't thrive well then that's just a sad by product of a free market economy. Some fall through the cracks. This lament has been spouted by the fortunate for millennia. However as the chasm between the haves and have nots widens, with more than a few of the middle class falling out on the low side, how then do we reconcile this. Formerly thriving cities sit empty and forlorn, a gloomy tableau. Tent cities spring up with families who only last week paid mortgages, drove carpool and lunched with the ladies. More than just a sad state of affairs, it also speaks to man's inhumanity. As the mighty fall amid the ruins of the mortgage crisis, vultures move into strip them of their homes, and the last vestiges of their dignity. The most recent spin is that this turn of events has forced people to understand that less is more and one would be surprised what they can do without. Children, who only last month, blithely played Wii in front of 52 inch television screens, now cart their most prized possessions from shelter to shelter in worn garbage sacks. In the midst, there is still the belief in the ideal. Though some have given up, still others bathe where they can and fix themselves up as best they can and go out to stand in interminable lines waiting for whatever is at the end.

The Contagion of Hope

Though hope is such short supply there are those who still possess it. They try desperately to infect others with it. However unlike the facile flu bug which moves seamlessly through the masses, hope is far harder to impart. They understand that to have hope is audacious but if we catch and successfully pass it from one to another then we can turn from our current course and slog back up the hill that we have been careening down. The long walk back up the hill may not be easy but to continue down it is unthinkable.