***SPOILER ALERT***
Osama Bin Laden is dead. Reportedly.
In further news, so is patriotism, well full time patriotism at any rate weekend and holiday versions are still run strong. Yet again there is a news story that stops time. The ‘Where were you when…?’ type of news. It’s a story we’ve already imagined telling our grandchildren. Within minutes of the headline, profile pictures were changed to American flags, bald eagles, silhouetted soldiers and fireman. Videos by country music artists are re-posted and tomorrow, thousands upon thousands will secure their neck ties with American flag pins. This is patriotic, anything less is apparently grounds for treason.
Then, next week, or perhaps later this month, the pins will get put away, the flags will be placed in a closet, behind the winter coats and the photos will be replaced by a picture of you holding that fish you caught last spring. Videos of kittens flushing toilets will replace soldiers saluting flags. America will forget, again. I expect it, were all to blame. ADD or CRS, distracted by shiny objects and our short attention spans. The truth of the matter is, most people in this country still can’t find Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Pakistan or North Korea on a map and more people can sing the McDonald’s Big Mac song than the National Anthem.
As I drove down the street this past holiday, the number of Easter egg or bunny rabbit flags on houses outnumbered American flags by nearly five to one. I trust however that at least a few times a year, the 4th of July, September 11th and sometimes Memorial Day, the Yankee and Boston Red Sox flags are taken down and replaced by Old Glory. On these days people are PROUD to be American. The rest of the year, it’s a burden. It takes too much time to donate blood, despite the fact that nation runs 40,000 units short DAILY. It’s so inconvenient to pick up a few cans for the local soup kitchen that during the ‘Help the Homeless’ week, my local grocery store prepackages food in paper bags. Buy a kit and leave it by the door, they’ll even take it there and donate it for ya! We can’t even be bothered to actually handle cash donations anymore. “TEXT 101010101 to ABCDEFG to donate 10 cents to Katrina/Haiti/Japan/…” fill in the blank. Philanthropy at it’s laziest. Benefits are held, stars line up and America takes a moment from Dancing with the Apprentice Survivors to pretend that they aren’t so apathetic or pathetic. Think I’m being too harsh, consider this.
Cote d’Ivoire, it’s not a new perfume or restaurant. It’s a country in West Africa in the midst of an civil uprising. Consider the estimate that 590,000 Japanese were displaced following the tsunami. Over 1,000,000 people were displaced and thousands killed and dumped into mass graves almost 6 months before then in Cote d’Ivoire. How about the fact that 884 million people still use unclean water sources and because of this a child dies every 20 SECONDS from a water borne illness. Nearly one in four children in the United States live in houses that have trouble providing a meal every night. One in 50 children in America are homeless. Big disasters get attention, slow destruction gets a website.
For the record before you start blaming the economy or being busy, consider that this quarter Microsoft posted a 60% increase in revenue and time spent on Facebook is up 700%. We are a turn on and tune out society. We want to be on the edge of our seats, wired for sound and ready to roll, adrenaline pumping and afraid for…someone else’s life. We don’t want to actually be in danger, well that would be crazy. Why do so many people turn to firefighters, EMT’s and Police officers and say, “I couldn’t do your job”, but then stop their cars on the highway to watch them do the very same. Controlled chaos. Simulated controlled chaos. Helplessness and hopelessness, fear and anxiety, doom and gloom all portioned out in 30 minute meals…with commercials mind you. It’s our chance to live vicariously through someone who isn’t us, but is close enough. There is even a tape of Bin Laden’s death floating around. I’ll file it away with the beheading videos I won’t watch. Not because I can’t, but because it’s unnecessary. Gratuitous violence for a nation that can spend 3 hours photo shopping a poster of a terrorist with genitalia for a head but won’t donate a few dollars or hours to help fight childhood cancer.
I believe that patriotism is defined by one’s actions not the amount of red, white and blue you can strap, tape and pin to anything in sight. It’s about what people do for each other when the need is there, it’s about sacrificing for others, sometimes just a little. Doing without so others have. It takes courage, commitment and dedication. It can’t be bought or emailed and it can’t be found on a website. So when the story has gotten old, it’s shine has worn off, before you start thinking about what your next screen saver will be, try taking a moment to find another place to put your attention. Supporting the troops is honorable, being proud to be American is noble, but that enthusiasm doesn’t have to end when the news turns back to the old fear mongering we always get. Do yourself a favor and take your Uncle Sam sparkling bald eagle pen and write in some time for your local soup kitchen, you’ll thank me later.
