Disclaimer: I didn’t think I’d posted the original Peace on Us post yet, so I revised it, and then realized that there is a Peace on us post already. So you get two Peaces on Us. Lucky you.
Peace on Us.
That is an episode title of one of the most moving episodes of MASH for me. In the episode, Hawkeye (portrayed by the immortal, Alan Alda), goes ballistic when he finds out that with the Korean conflict trudging on, the Army changes the rules on the number of points required for a soldier to get rotated home. And it hits him hardest because he’s been there longest of anyone: Potter, Winchester and Hunnicutt show up 3 or 4 seasons in. Burns gets sent home via season tickets to Section 8, and Blake gets killed. The only other two characters that have been on since the beginning is Father Mulcahy, but as a man of God, he’s not taken by acts of physical violence (his words), and Margaret Houlihan, who’s less of a hot-head than Pierce (and who’s completely overtaken by another crisis; her impending divorce).
So after downing a martini and tearing out of the Swamp, playing gas can soccer with Margaret, Hawkeye jumps into a jeep and goes right up to the peace talks to give them a “peace” of his mind. In the encounter at Panmunjom, where the Korean Peace talks take place, Hawkeye instructs them (in his boiling anger, somewhat abrasive manner) to find common ground, because there’s too much at stake for them to keep stalling. I felt like this episode was especially poignant this day in age, for a number of reasons.
There’s no doubt that we’re all tired of the brokenness of our world and our society. No matter where you fall on the political spectrum, we are weary of the negativity coming out of Washington, wafting through out our local communities, up and down our Facebook feeds, and just about everywhere else. There’s bigotry, insensitivity, ignorance, narrow-vision, disrespect, hatred, fear, confusion, ego-centrism, and lots of ideas, and opinions and hot air. There seems to be a palpable lack of kindness, understanding, listening, conversing, honest dialogue, and agreeing to disagree amicably. And it seems that common ground is all but gone, because we’ve stopped trying to establish it, or are just wearily ignorant of the common ground that is right in front of our noses. Or, perhaps, we’re tired of trying to establish common ground with those who do not share that ideal.
And this decline of morality and decency comes at a time when we face a trifecta of catastrophic crises: 1). the worst pandemic in 100 years, and in which there are imperfect plans that are seriously lacking in substance, and to which there seem to be no end in sight. 2). The biggest call for social justice reform since the 1970s and 3). The greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression. This has also created a fourth crisis: in which this country is more polarized and divided, with an ever widening chasm between Republican and Democratic, conservative and liberal, and scores of other issues that divide us.
If you want to see my perceptions for how and why our country has been and still is racist in some incredibly fundamental ways, see my previous post: Why is America Still Racist?. Racism isn’t anything new; its been a fundamental part of our country’s identity for our entire existence. Our country was founded on the principles of white men holding all power and substance, and it’s taken us most of our country’s existence to make changes to that policy. But make no mistake; the war for equality is far from won. Battles have been won…significant battles..and large steps have been taken. But the journey towards achieving a society where all people are created equal, both in the law and in our hearts, is far from over. There are those who live in privilege, who claim that things have come far enough, but they are blinded by their privilege. This is not necessarily their fault; we’re all victims of the limits of our perspective, and imagination. They don’t perceive a problem, because its not their problem. They can’t imagine what it’s like to live in a society where you appear to have the same rights as anyone else, yet the color of your skin makes you a second-class citizen. Or depending on where you go on vacation, the color of your skin makes you have to reconsider how late you walk home at night. I’ve lived that; it’s not a fun feeling. And we all saw it on display on January 6th; the efforts of law enforcement and protections afforded a white supremacist mob, versus what we’ve seen for BLM protests. We all know that if that mob had been a different skin color, the outcome would’ve been nothing short of a massacre.
Our country’s discriminatory issues have been like a bad bout of relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis, whereas a slow progressive degradation of the whole, can be masked by with certain short-term solutions that never truly address the underlying cause. Because of this, and an unwillingness to really address the underlying cause, meaningfully, the issue keeps coming up because we haven’t solved it. There are systemic discriminatory issues all throughout our society. And they must be addressed.
Violence for any reason is abhorrent. Society cannot be changed through violence. That’s how authoritarian dictatorships are created, and dictators ascend to power. There is a lot of anger, and there’s been a lot of anger for a long time. Nobody likes inaction, and bureaucracy of any kind is famous for inaction. Societies don’t change overnight. But things do happen. Elections move societies forward. Elections like we saw in the state of Georgia and Pennsylvania, where the voice of the people was truly heard. Where a record number of people voted in the 2020 election, and patriots, like Stacey Abrams, took it upon herself to register people to vote, offering franchisement to so many.
Violence against violence reminds me of one of my favorite of King’s many wonderful quotations: “Violence for violence darkens a night that is already devoid of stars.” Which means we need to resume peaceful dialogue. Or dialogue of any kind. Where everyone honestly listens, analyzes, and assesses. Where we are no longer concerned with our own position but the position of someone else. Because America can be the land of the free and the home of the brave. Put another way, we can be the country where we can have our cake and eat it too. We can honor veterans, while calling for changes to our society to make things better for everyone. We can acknowledge (even albeit reluctantly) that our country isn’t perfect, and its degree of perfection has nothing to do with the number of brave soldiers who have given their lives to defend it. But that the idea of the country, is worth defending even in its imperfection, as we seek to create a “more perfect union.” If we can create a society where everyone wins, then everyone wins. And if everyone wins, America wins. We are stronger if there are more people prospering. We are a better, more humane country, when everyone has a fair shake. And we can accomplish it, if we think outside of the box enough and examine both sides of the extreme views of stakeholders in this fight.
We cannot continue the cycle of hate. We need to start caring about each other again, even those who disagree with us. Not caring about each other is also why we’re still in this pandemic. The rest of the world has had more success in dealing with this thing, yet some US states are continuing to have daily infections rival the number of infections in some other countries. If we all cared about each other (and we didn’t had a government that lacked so much dysfunction that it chokes its own productivity, something that should be remedied in the coming days), masks would’ve been a necessary mild inconvenience to save another human being. We must be less selfish. There are countless studies that if we’d been more unified as a society in beating this, we might be in much better shape than we are now.
Rules have always been, somewhat quietly, predicated on the notion that we cannot trust every citizen to do the right thing. Sometimes it is because the right and wrong thing isn’t always clear. Sometimes its because evil exists in the world and seeks to do wrong anyway. We need to make rules about pandemic gatherings because some people won’t take it seriously. We need to censor social media because it incites violence and we need to protect our people and our democracy because there is great evil that seeks to destroy it. People have died. And as Hawkeye says in the episode, we cannot wait anymore, because people are dying. We can’t wait anymore.
The most ideal society is made up of those who have talents and experience in various areas who work together for the greater good without bias. Who trust each other to make the decisions based upon their expertise and good intentions. Unfortunately, there’s so much corruption these days (and its everywhere) that its hard to trust anyone to be able to do the right thing. Can we trust the police to fairly uphold law and order, and to use extreme force only when absolutely necessary? Can we trust politicians to pass laws and make decisions that are truly in our best interests? Can we trust ministers and priests to lead us to the promised land? Can we trust teachers to take care of, and educate adequately, our children and the future of our society?
The answer is often placated upon the stipulation that everyone must be good, and that everyone does what they are supposed to do, and evil and human error are non-existent. I would content that the answer is yes despite there being evil and human error in play. We can hold each other accountable and instill a sense of restorative justice, that rewards growth and learning, above perfection, while still trusting each other’s intentions. The minute we lose faith in each other is when the evil wins. Because evil will always find a way to punch holes in our paradigms, no matter the extreme measures that we take to stop it. Because in order to beat them, we have to become them, and the price of losing ourselves, our souls, the soul of goodness, is too high a price to pay. But there’s an old saying that goes “the only thing that is necessary for evil to flourish is for good men to stay silent.” We can’t stay silent, but we can hold each other accountable without losing the inherent trust and by establishing a means of learning and growth.
So let’s push for a new America. The America we deserve, the America we need, and the America so many have fought and died for. Let’s talk about it, let’s demand it, let’s get it done. Because we can’t wait anymore.