Juxtaposition

[Taken in Rockefeller Plaza the morning after Election Night.]

Mornings in our household are consistent:  my husband and I are at our kitchen table with a pot of coffee and two newspapers, and talking is minimal as we each drift in that space between being sound asleep and beginning our day at work.  This morning there was a bit more of a charge in the air as each of us read about today's inauguration, and when my husband headed to his office - where he would be watching the events online - I locked myself onto CNN.com and waited for everything to begin. 

There was one other story in today's paper that caught my attention - a tiny blurb a few pages from the front about an Australian writer named Harry Nicolaides being sentenced to three years in a Thai prison for "insulting the monarchy".  This "insult" occurred in a self-published novel Nicolaides wrote, of which seven copies were sold.  Yes, you read that right:  seven copies.

Stories like this are heard all the time, shared as tiny snippets of injustice that don't capture our attention more than a fruit fly.  Such things happen far, far away to people we have no personal connection to, so it is all too easy to wave a dismissive hand and send the little annoying tidbit buzzing out of our consciousness.  But of all days I've seen stories such as these - stories of people being locked away, abused and even executed for daring to have thoughts and creative expressions of their own - today was a day when it felt especially important to think about the oppression so many people around the world are experiencing right now.  After all the finger-pointing, blaming and oh, woe is me attitude flying around this country, all I could feel as I read about Nicolaides was gratitude for the fact that I live in a country that lets me say and express what I want to say artistically, politically or otherwise.

I cannot stress enough my disdain for politics.  During the presidential campaign last fall the subject of politics came up constantly at dinner parties and among friends.  On the one hand it was a great thing to have so many people discussing all the issues and problems facing our country, on the other hand I usually tuned out early on and always ended up feeling exhausted by how quickly these discussions devolved into vicious, personal attacks.  I saw Anne Lamott and Elizabeth Gilbert speak at UCLA last spring, and as inspiring as that evening was, I will never forget Lamott's rant on John McCain - describing him as something like an "ugly little man".  I found this very disturbing, because what does his physical appearance have to do with anything and why choose to go down the same road as a third grader on the playground pointing to the kid that dares to do or say something different from you?  Whatever political differences exist between people, it is a fine line between feeling passionate about one's beliefs and spewing hatred towards someone who has a different opinion.  I say this referring to all of us citizens of the United States, all of whom live in a country that has more freedom than anywhere else in the world.  It is my opinion that people forget all too easily that we are blessed to live in a country where we are able to choose who our leader is peacefully and express our opinions and beliefs as much as we want.

My point is this:  as Americans, we have a responsibility that much of the world's population isn't blessed with.  By the simple lottery-winning fact of our being born in the United States, we come into this world with a gift, the gift of having the freedom to take full responsibility for ourselves, our livelihood, our happiness, our life's journey.  We have the freedom to shape our lives however we want, and the basic ingredients of this process is the same no matter what the specific goals are:  hard work, commitment, persistance and honesty.  Barack Obama spoke of these responsibilities today and it is my hope that we all take his words to heart, that we all stop griping and groaning about all the ways the world isn't serving us and all the ways the government should be making our lives easier.  It is my hope that we all look in the mirror and take responsibility for where we are right now, the decisions that got us here and what it is going to take to create a life for ourselves that is based on gratitude instead of entitlement, commitment instead of shortcuts, compassion instead of greed.  And it is my hope that in our political, social, moral and ethical disagreements, we can still find space to show one another respect and try to understand one another's beliefs.  We might not ever be able to agree, but we can at least find our way back to the truth that we are all on this path together, this path of being citizens of a country that supports our right to believe what we want to believe.

This is my hope for today, and I write of this hope in honor of Harry Nicolaides, a writer like me who is now looking at the next three years of his life from behind the bars of a prison somewhere in Thailand, dreaming of freedoms like ours.

Comments

[noelle]

This was so refreshing and well written. Thank you for a fantastic post.

[Carla Sonheim]

Amen, too.

Thank you.

[Melanie]

Yes!

[f]

several days ago, my sister and I had a conversation about this, that people who are born in america should know the value of their blessing, a country where people can freely persue their dreams, I hope one day I go there too

[Sarah]

I love every word of this post!

[melissa]

amen!

[Lynne]

Oh... your words ring so true.

With great freedom comes great responsibility. Let us use it wisely.

Let us focus on the things that unite, rather than divide us.

Let us be brave enough to let go of the need to be "right" and instead to trust in the inherent goodness of all.

Let us cultivate tolerance... and ultimately, let that blossom into understanding...

Let us use our precious freedoms wisely -- especially the freedom of speech. 4 Words: Think Before You Speak.

Wonderful, wonderful post.

Thank you.