AMERICA Going, Going...

By David Bailly

What has happened to America since the postwar era of the late 1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s? Obviously, there have been a lot of changes—great, good, bad, and worse. There were challenges growing up with fellow baby boomers, under the guidance of the greatest generation. But we were taught to expect and even welcome roadblocks in life, because solving those problems would make us a better and stronger person. I and my peers—male or female, rich or poor, urban or rural—were encouraged to be whatever we wanted to be in life. That the only barriers in our life would be those we created for ourselves. Our teachers started with our parents, followed by the schools and churches. The sources of learning were different, but each played an important role in building the complete person. The preface, twenty-seven chapters, and conclusions in this book identify what I have considered as some of the major issues of today. As I point out in the beginning, this book is not about me (I even personally disdain all the first-person writings out there that are not based on current news). This writing is about the loss of us that has now permeated everything surrounding our world. You will be challenged along the way to make your own decisions about how we arrived at this place and what we all need to do to bring sanity back into a mostly insane culture. Let's return to one of our old adages: "Together we stand, divided we fall." We can and will survive this mess.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 3, 2019
• ISBN: 9781684565542

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

The Selfish Selfie Society: Incivility, Meanness, and Vanishing High Road

Ihave been a photographer all my life, mostly documenting my family in our travels and as we have grown up and old together. This is evidenced by the fact that many of our travels have photographs and videos of everyone except me. It wasn’t that important (at least in my mind) for me to be in the shots. We had annual family portraits and other relatives at group gatherings and on holidays to show that I indeed did and do in fact exist.

I never have liked selfies, allegedly invented by Paris Hilton in her day. I took a selfie one time and hated it, so I have used it ever since as my Facebook photo. It seems to me that such photos are one of the prime indicators that our world has departed the station from one for all and all for one to this life is all about me and no longer directed at you and us. Do most young people really care about others like many of us used to in the past (and still do), or has their focus shifted to the selfish aggrandizement that seems to have permeated our society through social media and personal isolationism? Do you remember a time when people would talk to one another in person or on the phone? Nowadays, all you need to do is send a text or post on social media to communicate with a family member or friend, rather than the past practice of hearing a voice in conversation. Do we no longer need to hear that voice, or at least not as often?

And then came along the selfie stick, a pole designed to assist the user in taking their selfies, especially when trying to include as many people as possible in the photo. Now isn’t that special.

Breaking News: Selfies are driving people to have plastic surgery so that they can look better in them? Oh, the vanity of it all! I have a friend whom I call the queen of selfies, and she would never do that! Good call. (More about this selfie sickness later in the book.)

When I was in school and at church as a child, we were taught about selflessness; that this life is really about the group rather than the individual. And this was not just about the small group of family and friends that surrounded us. It was about all of humanity throughout our town (or city), county, area, state, region, country, and world. In Lenten discipline we talked about death of self, not literally, but as a way to emphasize that life is about the community of all of God’s children. That each of us individually really mean very little, especially when compared to the importance of others around us and the individual as a small part of the whole. We learned about humility and being humble. This is a reason that the baby boomers generally still show that there are some reasons to follow the golden rule from the Bible: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. And then there are the first two commandments of the ten: love God above all else, and love your neighbor as yourself. Is it important to love oneself—of course it is. But love of self was seen primarily as we were taught in the context of doing so to enable us to then love others.

How is our country doing with respecting the property and person of others (handled in part in a later chapter)? Here is another lesson of a bygone era that is disappearing with a number of our younger generations. The lesson for us was respect your elders and that children are to be seen and not heard. Have you heard those teachings in your life recently? Do millennials and young people have respect for anyone other than themselves and those who can teach them new and innovative activities within social media? This is manifested every day with the dramatic increases in property crimes (theft and vandalism) and theft of an identity. Is nothing sacred anymore? Of course, there is no concern that what is mine is mine and what is yours is yours. There seems to be a consensus that everything is community property, with possession being the determining factor for ownership rights. So much for Thou shalt not covet the property of your neighbor and Thou shalt not steal.

When was the last time you saw a civil debate? You probably haven’t seen one unless it was strictly moderated or consisted of only same-minded individuals. The disappearance of civility is shown most notably for me by those of us who can speak only through screaming (for fear that is the only way others will listen) and the grotesque habit of interrupting a speaker. Is anyone else tired of hearing a media representative yelling a divisive question at another person who is walking by or leaving the room? Or how about a panel discussion with four people, all of whom are speaking at the same time? Good luck taking anything substantive away from that, except how rude we can become in a supposedly civilized society. There seems to be a competition when it comes to the individual who can be the most obnoxious in the group of supposedly educated adults. Personal development seminars used to emphasize the importance of listening to others, then thinking, and followed by a measured response or additional question. One of the most embarrassing moments in an interview can be when the commentator asks a follow-up question that was just answered, succinctly. Oops, someone apparently isn’t listening carefully enough.

Since when did it become appropriate to attend a congressional hearing, or the town hall of a member of a legislative body, or the partisan speech of a candidate for political office, and try to shout down the presenter who is speaking? Some believe that the First Amendment protects the right of a single person or a group with opposing views to be so disruptive as to violate the rights of others to hear the testimony or information that is the purpose of the meeting or gathering. Possibly the Beatitudes in the Bible should have included a time to speak and a time to refrain from speaking. Another lesson from being raised during the fifties: If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. The world today would be a very civil place if more people heeded such old-fashioned advice. Instead we are spiraling into the depths of mob mentality and rage over reason.

In the preface, I mentioned our late patriot and exemplary civil servant Senator John McCain III. There is little question that he will be remembered by us all for the level of his contribution to our country and to the world. At the same time, we must remember that no one on this earth today is perfect. It is claimed that McCain once was quoted as saying, I sometimes let my passion rule my reason. Don’t we all? Or at least let ye who is without sin cast the first stone. Isn’t that the very heart of our tribalism and incivility today, that we are so passionate about our personal beliefs that we cannot see the forest [rational thought] from the trees?

And for those of us who thought so much of Senator McCain as he left this earth, then it didn’t take long for his daughter Meghan McCain to stain his great reputation for being above politics during a moment at his DC memorial service at our beloved National Cathedral that will live in infamy, and which I just witnessed and will never forget. The beautiful and respectful tribute started out with amazing music and great dignity, until those incredible moments were shattered by the daughter and political pundit with the words America has always been great (according to her late father)! All of a sudden, it felt like she was on a schizophrenic rant, like in your face, President Trump (who was not invited to the funeral events), Michelle Obama, and NY governor Andrew Cuomo! Unfortunately, because of Meghan McCain, my most memorable remembrance of John McCain will be from the very end, the ill-advised and creepy comments from a daughter and the decision to exclude the sitting president of the United States from McCain’s final public memorial service while including Islamic and pagan world leaders and the likes of apologizer/divider/golfer-in-chief Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, Bill and Hillary (from the Hillbilly administration), and Internet inventor Al Gore. And all because of one ill-advised statement. It was certainly not a very Christian act to end a storied life. But that is part and parcel and indicative of our country today. There is a time and place for everything under heaven (loosely from the Bible and the Byrds musical group), and this was not one of those.

Neither the conservatives nor the liberals (or any other group) have a protection to say anything at any time. There is plenty of incivility at both ends of the spectrum and at every point in between. We must all think before we speak, judging from our combined experience the obvious power of words to build or destroy. Anyone can become a bully with the change of a single word, replacing a potentially positive moment into one of chaotic demolition. And there are those who complain to us about our history of civil political discourse, such as Vermont socialist/independent senator Bernie Sanders, who complained during the confirmation process for Justice Kavanaugh that you can’t use bad words in the Senate, to which I respond Oh, my and Boo-hoo. I can hardly wait for something I have never witnessed from Senator Sanders, a truly bipartisan statement as opposed to his normally inflammatory rhetoric. As we were taught decades ago, hopefully, there is a first time for everything. I am patiently waiting, Bernie.

I have not been a witness to as much hatred as there is today on the extremes of the Right and on the Left, except possibly during the civil rights battles of the late fifties and sixties. And I hope and pray to never experience this again during the remainder of my life. The ultimate seems to be when each side screams about the hatred being demonstrated by the opponents! Really? This used to be referred to as the pot calling the kettle black. And also as people who live in glass houses should not throw bricks (rocks). This must pass, as civil discourse is part of the very soul of our republic, at the right time and in the right place. I may be somewhat naive, but I still believe that most people are basically good. And that they have good intentions. But then comes the polarizing insanity that has thrust us all to the edge of the gaping abyss. How did it come to this? It can’t all be blamed on the upset deplorables or on those suffering from Trump Affective Disorder (TAD). Some politicians and pundits have been calling on their supporters to disrupt the lives of anyone who has differing views—yelling profanities in front of them and their families. You are not welcome here at a gas station? And for impeachment of the president without legal grounds to do so. We are obviously experiencing a shortage of psychiatrists, psychologists, and mental health-care services. The poster child for this kind of political insanity and conspiracy theories is a guy named Michael Moore. He recently claimed that Donald Trump will be the last president, predicting that a coup or revolution will end this institution as we have known it for nearly 230 years! Such claims create another what planet are you living on?