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I’m from the generation that grew up on Free to be You and Me, Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, Sesame Street, Captain Kangaroo, After School Specials.
The lessons and takeaways were clear:
All people have value.
People are made to be different and we need to respect each other’s differences.
Be kind.
Stand up to bullies.
Stand up for what’s right.
Give a hoot…don’t pollute (take care of our planet)
Protect endangered species
Abide by the Golden Rule (do unto others as you’d have others do unto you?)
I was In 5th grade the year our country celebrated its Bicentennial, a year long birthday party celebrating 200 years since our nation had declared its independence from British rule. In social studies class with Mr. Pakula, we memorized the Preamble to the Constitution, the Gettysburg Address and did a performance about the Declaration Of Independence.
We learned that our nation was founded on these basic principles: we had inalienable rights and ALL are created equal, there are THREE co-equal branches of federal government holding separate powers, one branch no more powerful than the others, allowing the others to check each others’ powers to make sure they’re balanced.
Important lessons taught to a generation and handed down to the generations that followed. And yet?
We now live in a time that feels so hopelessly divided that even the most basic lessons of our childhoods have been dismissed as weakness for caring about others, or not wanting to “other” others. Where inclusion and being given a fair shot has been so compromised that the very term DEI is blamed for, well, pretty much anything the current president doesn’t like. We live in a time where we hear about the shuttering of a governmental organization tasked with helping the most destitute around the world and people cheer on the wealthy overlords who will benefit financially with little regard for the human beings it will hurt the most. Where an organization designed to offer basic protections to consumers to help avoid mistakes of the past is shut down. Seems to me the only people who wouldn’t want any kind of regulations and protections that provide those basic safety nets for consumers are the ones who would benefit financially from not having them. We live in a time where they’re eliminating federal programs that help those who have the very least (food, home, quality education, healthcare), as some sort of cost saving measure to afford to give major tax breaks and contracts to the ones who have the most. And people cheer on the dismantling of governmental departments, hurting not only the people helped by these agencies, but by also putting thousands of fellow Americans out of jobs. These people losing their jobs aren't out to bilk taxpayers, contrary to what we’ve been told. These people are our neighbors, the parents of our children’s friends, the people we run into when we run out for a few things at Target. These are people who chose to work for the federal government because the department did something they cared about and was created as a way to help others and do good (the exact lessons we were all taught as children).
We live in a time where the Legislative branch has all but ceded its powers to the Executive one and the Executive branch has decided that it doesn’t have to listen to the decisions handed down by the Judicial one. We live in a time where an unelected, unvetted person with world domination fantasies has been given carte blanch keys to the kingdom (along with OUR personal data) and I’m shocked and saddened that this isn’t disturbing to everyone. If ever there was an issue we could agree on, it feels like it would be that one.
I know that bad times in society are cyclical. I know that things will likely have to get worse before they get better. I know that too many news organizations are capitulating to the whims of the current administration and are giving up their 4th Estate role as watchdog over the government, meaning people aren’t getting the actual news, but a version of it and if they were, they’d probably not believe it, anyway.
And what I want to know is who will finally stand up and put an end to this nightmare? In 1950, Senator Margaret Chase Smith stood up against Senator Joe McCarthy. It took another four years before her colleagues would join her and censure him, ending the McCarthyism era. In 1972, Woodward and Bernstein began investigating Nixon’s Watergate break in. It was more than a year later before John Dean agreed to testify and another year before Nixon would resign. Who will be the one to stand up against what’s going on now?
What we really need is a strong reminder for those who need it most of the things we know to be true: That people have value, respect our differences, stand up to bullies, etc. What we could really use is for someone to step in the way our media heroes used to in the past.
I mean...
Where is Toto to pull back the curtain on the weak man who really isn’t a wizard at all?
Where is Charlie Bucket to stand up to Mr. Slugworth as he tries to bribe the golden ticket winners?
Where is Laura Ingalls to let go of Nellie’s wheelchair and let it go careening away so she can get hers once and for all?
Where is Peter Brady to punch that awful Buddy Hinton in the face for making fun of Cindy’s lisp?
And finally, where is the Fonz to snap his finger or smack the juke box and say, “Cool it!”?
