There is a lot of chatter these days about rights. It gives one pause.
Several weeks ago I heard a politician claim that it is time to win our country back. I was not aware that we had lost it. I wonder who stole it. If you ask a rabid conservative, the answer will most likely be those bleeding heart liberals.
If, however, one asks a liberal for the identity of this most heinous perpetrator, the finger will no doubt be pointed in the direction of the nearest soulless conservative. Hearts and souls do not hew to ideological boundaries. Claims of the theft of the nation would do little more than tickle the funny bone were they not fueled by a level of acrimony and ad hominem attacks that have spiraled out of control.
Having never trusted absolute certainty, the fervor with which ideology has fractured our ability to work together toward the commonweal is downright frightening–and embarrassing.
There are also a lot of people claiming to be patriots. I guess to some it means that my way of seeing and thinking about this country is right and yours, well, it is just plain wrong–even unpatriotic. I do not intend to suggest a definition of patriotism here. I had thought we had washed such silliness out of our national debates after the Vietnam War when those having the temerity to suggest that stopping the war might just be the best way to “support our troops’”were characterized as downright unpatriotic. To my way of thinking, getting people out of harm’s way seems a much more effective way of saving lives than putting them in its way. But then that is a brand of logic some would take issue with. It seems to go hand in hand with this notion that whatever we do is beyond scrutiny and those who have principled disagreements with a particular policy or action are somehow less American than those who go along with whatever it is leadership chooses to embroil us in, regardless of its cost, human and otherwise.
I have no particular beef with ideological difference.
Unfortunately, we have come to a terrible pass in this country.
We claim that debating our differences is healthy. Yet, when push comes to shove compromise is excoriated as a form of weakness, evidence of an inadequate political will.
The prevailing wisdom seems to be that it is more honorable to never remove one’s ideological blinders. There is a plague about this land that lauds unrelenting conviction while relegating thoughtful discussion and eventual compromise to the dung heap.
That giving in to the other is some sort of moral failing. I do not get it. It is certainly not a view consistent with all that I have been taught to believe that this country stands for. A hallmark of a vital, viable, and healthy democracy is vigorous dissent. We chat, we argue, we even get into some hotheaded debates. But in the final analysis, we work things out. I describe myself as a somewhat left-leaning independent.
I am registered with one party so that I can vote in our primaries. Were that not necessary I would reregister as an independent because I believe that one can only act responsibly if one is independent and not beholden to a rigid ideology. I have never thought I had all the answers and the older I get the more convinced I am that flexibility in thought is necessary if one is to make reasoned decisions. I have heard useful ideas expressed by conservatives.
I have heard liberals express views with which I agree and some with which I disagree. I see no reason to vilify another merely because she expresses a view counter to my own.
That is neither a useful nor constructive approach to problem solving.
There is no such thing as an ideal patriot. Those who see patriotism as some sort of immutable standard do not understand what being a true patriot means. To me it means caring a great deal about others, about community, and about the nation as a whole. It does not mean thoughtlessly joining a dangerous lockstep parade of like-minded zealots. Zealotry in all forms is unproductive and often dangerous.
True patriots see and respect difference. They find ways to accommodate difference so that the commonweal is achieved. If we keep on with the rancor and self-serving demagoguery that characterizes our national discourse these days we will have ourselves to blame. We will have stolen this great nation from ourselves.
Columns
Up On Hawthorn Hill: Rights
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In These Otsego Hills: Continuing on from 1986 ...
We continue this week by answering the question we asked if anyone remembers the old Cooperstown National Bank? On May 13, we wrote: “Martha Dickison, Delaware Street, called to tell us about the Cooperstown National Bank where she worked at her first ‘real job’ after her graduation from school.
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Up On Hawthorn Hill: Spring inventions
The second line of Lawrence Durrell’s novel “Justine” reads as follows: “In the midst of winter you can feel the inventions of Spring.” I first read all four novels of his magnificent Alexandria Quartet during the year I traveled from Saigon to Paris after working in Vietnam for a refugee organization for several years.
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From Fly Creek: Revving up for spring
Time to bring you up to date on Fly Creek’s happy clambering into Spring. First, the eatery scene. “Is Jerry’s open yet?” The answer is, “Oh, yes!” The porches are freshly stained; the lawns a uniform green, and the hop vines are already climbing the posts on the covered side deck. Blue and I went up there to lunch earlier this week, and I celebrated spring with my traditional bacon, onion and Swiss cheese hamburger. We two sat on the deck, enjoying the broad view and some spectacular clouds marching across, up toward Schuyler Lake.
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In These Otsego Hills: More from 1986 ...
This week we continue with the discussion of telephone service from the pre-dial days. On March 12 we noted that: “No one has yet produced a telephone directory from pre-dial days, but Doug Preston of New Hartford recalls that some business (which one?) in the village had the phone number 7.”
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Home Notes: Celebrations abound at the Thanksgiving Home
April was a month of celebrations and much to appreciate. We had a 90th birthday celebration for Wanda Noyes on April 4 including her family and friends. Personal care staff Dee Bouck worked with residents to hand paint Easter eggs for the tree in the activity room.
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In These Otsego Hills: 1986 continues ...
This week we continue our journey through the columns of 1986 with the answer to the question “for whom, according to tradition, was Hannah’s Hill named?”
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Book Notes: Baseball book features local contributors
Baseball is part of the nation’s fabric. Most kids have a memory of the game either from playing Little League, attending a major league contest or meeting a favorite player. In Cooperstown that feeling is magnified since we are the official home of baseball. We get to see firsthand what has made the sport the national pastime.
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From Fly Creek: Ya really wanna know?
SETTING: Fly Creek General Store. CAST: Assorted seated geezers, drinking coffee. [Door opens, enter heavy-set geezer; walking slowly with wide stance, maybe prostatitis.]
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In These Otsego Hills: Returning to 1986 ...
For the past several years now we have undertaken sharing some of the area’s oral history we have collected over the years that we have written this column. Therefore, this year, we would like to go back to 1986 to share that rather unusual year. Those who were here then no doubt remember that it was that year that the village celebrated the bicentennial of its founding.
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From Fly Creek: For reasons unknowable
[Jim’s reached back to 2002 to share one of his favorite columns.] My father was born as the last century began into a river village in tidewater Maryland. He told me once of a man there in his boyhood who, like so many, made a thin living tonging for oysters in the cold months and, in the hot and humid ones, crabbing and raising vegetables.
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In These Otsego Hills: CCS balancing act ... side two
Last week we shared a number of activities in which students at CCS can participate. We thought it was an impressive, if not overwhelming, list. And we are indeed pleased that the young people of our area have these opportunities. However, we think it is also important to keep in mind that these undertakings do have a cost associated with them. They are not free. In fact there are, no doubt, those who would say they do not come cheap.
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From Fly Creek: A graceful crowd
Make of this what you will, friends. I feel I’m really meant to share it with you. Despite good medication for my Parkinsonism, every four or five weeks I can sensethe symptoms building up on me, giving me more than ordinary trouble. Lately it’s been falls, and last week brought a typical one. I’d gone out to get the paper, moving along with penguin steps on the snowcoved ice patches, and usingmy spike-tipped cane the waya climber uses an ice axe. But circumstances overcame me. Parkinson’s wipes out the possibility of multi-tasking.
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In These Otsego Hills: This and that and the other side ...
We note that the CCS Class of 2012 is presenting its senior class play, “Snow White” by Tim Kelly, this week with performances 7:30 p.m Thursday and Friday, March 29 and 30, and at 11 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 31. All performances will be at the Nicolas J. Sterling Auditorium at the Middle/High School.
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In These Otsego Hills: That green thing ...
Of late we have noticed that our email inbox has been much busier than usual. In fact, we find ourselves hard pressed to keep up with all the various messages we receive. As a result we suspect we have not answered some in as timely a fashion as might be thought appropriate.
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From Fly Creek: What you need to know
In their last Sunday’s bulletins, all 84 churches of Otsego County were to have carried announcements of an important meeting; most of them did. But because the announcement is so important, and not just to the churched, here it is again.
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Book Notes: Living the magic of ‘Hoosier’
A lot of people consider “Hoosiers” the best sports film of all time. The 1986 classic follows the exploits of a fictional small town Indiana high school basketball team in 1952 as it attempts to achieve the impossible dream of a state championship. The story is inspired by the true life achievement of the 1954 Milan team, who with an enrollment of only 161 students shocked big city power Muncie Central on a last second shot to win the state title. It’s the kind of sports story that represents something that is hard to grasp unless you live in a small town.
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In These Otsego Hills: The most perfect village... home to heavy industry?
We suspect we would get a whole lot more accomplished if we spent less time thinking, pondering and musing about things. In fact, there is a good possibility we might actually have completed our goal of cleaning the basement if we only focused on the task at hand, instead of trying to figure out the world around us. It almost makes us wonder if it is possible to think too much about things. We certainly hope not because should that be the case, we are in deep trouble.
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Up On Hawthorn Hill: The past in the present
Clichés abound about the value of photographs. Most are probably true at least to a certain extent. What I do know about an image is that it represents something of the past that is not the pastitself. But that is the power of any image. It represents something that once was. The beauty of an image, revisited, is that it functions as a catalystfor reliving in the present a past experience. My own view, one that I thank the Spanish writer Jorge Luis Borges for, is that all we ever can experience is the present.
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Home Notes: Workshops held for Thanksgiving Home residents
We welcomed Linda Keller, Ph.D. of the Bassett Research Institute and Ida Baker of NYCAMH who presented a six-week workshop for residents and staff.
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From Fly Creek: Late-winter hamlet news
Well, at least I’m “guessing” it’s late winter now — in the winter that wasn’t. But, if not snow, I can provide a flurry of Fly Creek news to share with you, scooping Associated Press, Reuter’s, and United Press International, not to mention all local news services except our General Store.
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In These Otsego Hills: Continuing on from 1986 ...
