Hope and Caution in a world of fear

Hope and caution

Do you remember “duck and cover” drills? As a child of the Cold War I remember them in elementary school. We were afraid that anytime the bombs would fall and “nuclear winter” would commence. We thrilled at the “space race” as we countered the Sputnik moment with Friendship, Gemini, and Apollo, till the Eagle landed on July 20th 1969. We thought the “Evil Empire” would always be around , till that fateful day in 1989 when the Wall came down, and then in 1991 saw the breakup of the Soviet Union.

The world is still a dangerous place, but I believe we need to remember two things in times of danger. One, beware of overestimating our enemies, and two, don’t contribute to undue fear.

We found out that reports of Soviet power were vastly overrated. Their economy was sapped by emphasis on military power - a lesson that we need to learn. And their military power, though substantial, was never the overwhelming force that we had feared. Our advantage in nuclear power was overwhelming just by itself. We had believed their bravado too much.

And at the same time many individuals were harmed, had lives ruined or lost, by those who were so fierce in their opposition to communism, that they saw enemies everywhere. From the House Un-American Activities Committee, who alone ruined the livelihoods of over 300 actors, directors and screenwriters with accusations. To Senator Joseph McCarthy who managed to smear hundreds of people, not just in Hollywood, but also in the State Department and the Army. To the various proponents of the “containment doctrine” which lead to over 50,000 lost American lives alone in our disastrous war in Vietnam.

And overseas we supported loads of anti-communist bullies , chiefly in Latin America, and ignored serious legitimate people issues. All in the name of “winning the war on communism”

Unfortunately I fear we are repeating the mistakes of the past, in our “war on terror”.

There are two things we need to remember in all this. Hope and caution. We need to remember that despite what we think all those we fear have a end point. Stalin died , likely murdered, the Wall came down, the USSR broke apart. Joseph McCarthy died an alcoholic after a decade of trouble making in the Senate. NIxon was forced out of office,

No matter how bad things get ,there is always hope. Our country is strong, our systems work.- but that is another post,

But we must always be cautious. Don’t give in to someone who promises they know all and have all the answers. Be wary of someone who demands loyalty to a cause without question.

Engage in curiosity  , question everything and everyone. Focus on meeting people’s needs around you. Never elevate programs or policy over people. Hurt comes from that, not hope.

Remember - HOPE and CAUTION

More to come.

Thanks for reading - comments are very welcome

What were we thinking?

Have you ever had a time when you looked back on something you did and wondered "what was I thinking? why did I do that?  Of course, we all have. And we have as a people looked back at things our country has done and asked "why did we do that? why did we allow that?" Why did we treat people as second class citizens on the basis of race, color, creed, gender, or national origins?

And in most instances we changed how we act now and made amends for the past. We paid reparations to the families of Japanese Americans who were interned during WWII, we instituted affirmative action programs to try and make up for the lingering disparity of education opportunity created by racial discrimination.

We all recognize and seek to make corrections for the past because we clearly see our nation's errors. but I believe we need to go a step further. We need to recognize that each generation makes their own errors and it isn't always apparent until the next generation calls them out on it. We need to ask ourselves "what are we doing now that future generations will look back  on and ask "why?"

For you see we are often blind to our own biases, our own prejudices, our own privilege.Acknowledging our own privilege is not a matter of guilt, but rather of awareness. As a WASP(white , anglo-taxon, protestant) I will never be profiled, never have to face the prejudice of appearance or association. As a straight guy I will never had to deal with the discrimination and barriers to fair treatment and equal opportunity suffered by women and the LGBTQ community.

And there are three things I must do based on that. One I need to acknowledge the opportunity that I do have and be grateful for it. Two, recognize that there are many, many who do not have that opportunity but rather face barriers because of differences. And third, I need to reach out to help those who are disadvantaged and seek to help, not out of guilt, but simply because I have the resources to help and out of human decency.

We need to be forward looking and work to not make the mistakes of the past. And be self-aware of our assumptions, our own biases, and the fact that not everyone is like us.An example for me is: I am an early bird. I am writing this at 6:30 in the morning after taking a walk at 5am on Saturday. Many people I know are still asleep. They are not wired like me. And that is okay. But my wife, who is a night owl (and consequently asleep) once worked for a company where the management was all early birds and not only expected everyone else to be one too, but looked askance at anyone who wasn't , and it affected performance reviews. She did not last there long.

Realizing that not everyone is like you, doesn't have the same reactions as you, and that that is okay, is maturity. It can help us avoid errors and support the common good. If we step into other people's shoes, even for just a moment, we can act in a way that will help all people, not just those who look, sound, behave , or believe like us.

In the next several weeks I would like to examine the past and help us recognize trends that will help us avoid assumption errors in the present , to make for a better future. I would be happy if you could join me in the journey.   ------next up "Uncle Joe".