I'm Gonna Try To Lighten Up

The discussions here over the past couple weeks have been so damn depressing that I have promised myself to make a concerted effort to lighten things up. This idea springs partly from the Ray Bradbury poem linked here and partly from a comment Left Coast Rob made in response to my rantings on Iran. In an as yet not entirely successful effort to bring me back to my senses, Rob wrote one of the most eloquent testimonies to the essential goodness of the American people that I have read in a long while, a quote that has been banging around in may head ever since:

I don't think we have it in us as a people to drive an enemy to its knees, then simply walk away with the promise to do it again if they don't get it right next time. That is partly driven by a genuine kindness that I'm convinced is an aspect of the American character. The rest is driven by the sincere belief that we simply know how to it better (being it governing, or building refineries, or saving women from their abusive, fundementalist husbands/fathers/uncles/whatever. We can't help ourselves in that regard...we simply have to do it.

He's right. And, while that "kindness-mixed-with-confidence" may yet be our undoing, I for one admire both attributes.

But the idea of trying to find some thing happy to write about actually crystallized yesterday. After a spectacular April, we have had an incredibly cold and rainy May (where is global warming when you need it?), but yesterday dawnwed absolutely beautiful, just in time for the wedding Judy and I were (more or less) obligated to attend. It was a wedding of the daughter of some friends we know primarily through a professional association between Judy and the bride's mother, so for me at least, it was boring as only a wedding where you know almost none of the attendees can be. But the day was so beautiful, and the people so gay that it tuned out to be fun in a quiet sort of way: dressier ceratinly that your average large family picnic, but with the same sort of relaxed, carefree atmosphere. I met some interesting people at dinner, and we talked for about an hour or so without once mentioning any of the topics on which I have been so obsessed here. The whole thing reminded me that despite its outrage and polarization, life in America is pretty damn good, and that a large part of our problems stem from a failure to keep that in mind. As Ray Bradubry said, "We are the dream that others dream."

So, when I sat down with the papers this morning, I decieded to try to find something to write about that was happy or funny or at least not depressing.

I failed.

Iraq? Some potentially good news there, but as always, it is accompanied by so much bad news that you find it hard to be hopeful, much less happy about anything going on in that poor country.

Iran? No good news of any sort there.

Isreal/Palestine? Ditto.

The US? It is a little like Iraq. Sure there are tidbits of good news, but they are overwhelmed by the seeminbg endless number of ideological struggles in which we are currently involved. Even this -- Religious Liberals Gain New Visibility: A Different List Of Moral Issues -- which I initially took as good news, gains its newsworthiness only from the fact (or hope) that is countervailing voice in America's kulturkampf.

Sports? Well there is this: The Detroit Tigers(!) have ths best record in baseball: 28-14 (.667)! (Ok, Ok. They're tied by the Chisox, but it's still the best record in baseball). But for those who have suffered with the Tigers for the last decde or so, even that is tinged with the conviction that it is a fluke and can't last. And besides, the sports news today is dominated by Barbaro's broken leg (an unmitigated tragedy) and Barry Bonds' 714th home run (a source of very mixed emotions).

Movies? There are some good ones around. I saw one the other night -- Paradise Now -- that I would recommend, but it is hardly a "good news" sort of movie. Perhaps the best news in movies this summer is that both MI3 and Da Vinci code are bombing. There is little I would like more than to see a lot less of Tom Cruise and hear a lot less about the Da Vinci code. So, perhaps that is good news. But it is good only in a pervers sort of way: I like it only becuase it discomfits things/people I have grown to despise.

So, I for now will take solace in the little things. It's another speactacularly beautiful day. Judy is busily planting fowers. I am about the start watching the 7th game of the Detroit/Cleveland NBA playoff game. So far as I know, everyone I care about is well and reasonably happy. And, despite it all, I really do remian pretty optimistic about the future both for myself and my family and friends.

Hope that is not too mawkish.