The Apple Pie Fairy

[hootinholler]

I grew up a child of the 60's. Literally, Ike was a lame duck when I was born, by the time I was 2 we were living in a small town in the Laurel Mountains of southwestern Pa. That makes me slightly older than President Obama, from a very different upbringing. At 9 my friends and I had the run of the town on our bikes, sandlot baseball in the backyards, Cowboys N Indians, and of course war. We watched Matt Dillon getting his villain, Mayberry RFD and other shows on our black and white TV sets and while I don't remember exactly when on the journey I had discovered Mom was Santa Claus, and then the Easter Bunny and then the Tooth Fairy. I knew about that one for a while figuring I'd milk the money. It became a standing joke if I needed a small loan that I could always knock out a tooth.

We play these untruths on our children for a number of reasons. To teach life lessons. To uphold and honor traditions that go back to our tribal beginnings. To give an affirmation on Christmas morning that yes, you are good and you are loved.

One by one they popped. For each of us in our own way, all in our own time, the cocoons of mythos popped.

Where I'm trying to go with all this is there is one final fairy cocoon to be popped, and I saw an instance of its promulgation this week. You may recognize the sentence:

I want us to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it. All of us - we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children's expectations. - President Obama

Yeah, I teared up a little. Then it started churning.

I realized the last fairy was hiding something really ugly.

If we as a people are to look in the mirror, and see ourselves the way the world sees us, we're not the good guys anymore. It's debatable to what degree we were in the past, but it's been considerable. We've stepped it up lately, hell y'all are the choir, you know.

The point is, that vision from the mirror doesn't match Mom and apple pie. When we realize we are torturing prisoners, engineering dirty tricks in other countries, shooting at terrorists on one side of the world and training terrorists on the other, pop! That is the last tooth fairy spell to be broken, the Mom and apple pie fairy, I guess.

Many of our contemporaries will never see the ugly. To see it will rock the core of their being. They might admit to fringes of this ugliness, and many cite the right problems but ascribe them to the wrong reasons. Still others are just mean and don't care.

For the rest of us the thing is that once you recognize this, what the hell can you do about it?

Hearing those words I quoted above, brought to my imagination my country in the context of my youthful understanding. I would so love to be able to set these things aright, to live up to my own expectations of my country when I was 9. But it is beyond my capability to bring those who would torture to justice. It is beyond my capabilities to stop spending our national treasure to benefit the corporate class. It is beyond my capabilities to stop manufacturing the mortal enemies of our country.

In the eyes of that long past innocence, my country should be the beacon of hope to the oppressed. Most certainly not the oppressor. It is beyond my capabilities to effect that sort of change, I thought that's why we hired you, Mr President. If we are ever going to even inch there to rekindle that beacon, we need a champion.

-Hoot

[midnight]

1. K&R

[Fumesucker]

2. There are no champions..

Not in the sense you are using that word in.

There are only humans who to a greater or lesser extent have feet of clay.

Growing up really sucks sometimes.

[hootinholler]

3. We've had champions

Frank, John, Martin, Bobby...

But yeah, they are few and far between, and growing up does suck sometimes.

-Hoot

[global1]

4. I Grew Up A Child Of The 50's And.....

had a 10 year head start on the experiences you encountered in the 60's. I was told people are starving in Europe and that the whole world was backward and behind and the U.S. was the most civilized, advanced and benevolent country. I believe all that and perhaps at the time some of that was true. But in the 80's I had a job that took me out of the U.S. and allowed me to experience other countries and other cultures. It opened my eyes. I've been well traveled ever since and realize that a lot of what we were told and are continued to be told is just plain B.S.

Most of the developed countries are at least on par with the U.S. and many are far more ahead of the U.S.

A Repug friend of mine just last year vacationed in Japan. He came back with his eyes opened and has since started to change his tune and is thinking and voting more along the lines of the Dems now. His eyes were opened.

Unfortunately - many of the sheeple in the U.S. most of which listen to Conservative talk radio and Faux News - have never been out of their county let alone the country. They have no conception as to how other people in other parts of the world live or how good they are treated by their governments (think government provided/subsidized healthcare and free education for a start).

They have nothing to compare what they have or don't have against what other parts of the world have. They only know what they are told by radio and TV news and commentary. Things like we have the best healthcare in the world, etc.

I just wish more people could experience other cultures and get a feel as to how we are perceived in Europe or Asia.

Hell - the U.S. isn't even the melting pot of cultures anymore. The Statue of Liberty might as well be holding a stop sign.

[remember2000forever]

7. I Love The Way Southern Europeans Eat

They shop every morning for their fresh eggs, herbs, bread, vegetables and fruit. Their butchers know them by name and the kind of cuts that they like. All this usually just a short stroll down to local markets. Our US commercial food industry Sucks.

[hootinholler]

14. I lived in England for a little while

Fresh milk, eggs and butter, all local sources, were delivered to my door almost every morning from an electric vehicle and it was price competitive with the supermarkets.

We have a lot to relearn.

-Hoot

[hootinholler]

11. In some ways I agree, others not so much...

I don't remember JFK being whacked in Dallas, but I remember Martin and Bobby.

We are still the melting pot as much as we ever were. I'm not sure if you are aware of the scorn the Irish drew when they came, the Polish and Slavs (at least around where I grew up) were scorned as well. By the time I was growing up there was no better party invitation than a Polish wedding reception.

The health care and education you speak of is a double whammy, because it is cheaper for governments to support those activities, and immoral for people to make a profit from other's suffering.

Yes another function of the fear mongers on the radio today is to strengthen the apple pie fairy. I wonder what sort of blank stare I'll get when I run across a winger and tell them you still believe in the apple pie fairy. If the wingers had their way the torch would be replaced with a stop sign.

How do we open their eyes?

-Hoot

[me b zola]

5. K&R

[annabanana]

6. Big kick hootin'

The sadness follows me everywhere now.

[hootinholler]

12. Oh, Anna

:hug:

You have such a pretty soul to be followed by this cloud.

-Hoot

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

8. For me the big lie that pops is this.

We are all created equal. We can be anything we want to be.

[hootinholler]

15. And yet

Someone like The President is elected.

Yes I know, the odds are slim, but still.

-Hoot

[Highway61]

9. K & R

n/t

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[hootinholler]

13. Thanks for the compliment...

No, I'm not paid to write English. If my prose was effortless, this would have been posted much sooner, like 9PM ET. :rofl:

I'm am happy to hear that it appears that way to others :greenbouncythangojoy:

Mt Airy is a lovely town. There are many like it all around the US.

Welcome to DU :D

-Hoot

[saorsa]

16. thanks for this,

Who will know where we came from and what we learned, if we are too afraid to speak that we might be labeled complainers? All of our kids deserved the world we once dreamed of that we hoped was just ahead up the road a bit. If we let our principles and pride in justice and truth die, we have nothing but plastic and lies to leave them.

[hootinholler]

17. You're very welcome.

Welcome to DU also.

I'm not shy about my opinions, it's getting thought leaders on board.

-Hoot