Not to go on all-fours; that is the Law. Are we not Men?
-H.G. Wells, The Island of Dr. Moreau-
I'd hate to make anyone think I'm an optimist. I'm not even sure I care too much about the human race aside from a few individuals, but that's what pessimism is about -- a cosmic frame of reference that sees no permanence; that sees everything that is on the way up as inevitably on the way down.
Perhaps not caring gives a clearer vision. If it doesn't matter in the end that voting rights are in peril, or at least under continuing assault, then the failure of the Texas legislature to pass a bill further restricting abortion rights despite a ten hour filibuster by Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis, is less likely to be overshadowed. She might have gone on but was ruled to have drifted off topic amidst a chorus of boos and catcalls, and the bill was declared dead at 3 AM.
For those of us who still hope for sweeping reformation and the triumph of truth and justice for all, it's a little and perhaps temporary victory over the animal meanness of human nature and as Dr Moreau learned, you can dress up the animal and teach it to walk on two legs, you can make it recite pledges and formulae, you can make up stories about divine origins, but the beast is still a beast and evolution is so slow.
Still a little ray of light that Texas legislature actually said no to being able to invade a woman's vagina. And SCOTUS ruled that Defense of Marriage Act provision was unconstitutional giving gay couples who are legally married in their states the right to equal benefits.
ReplyDeleteOf course we still have corporate personhood and the repeal of the voting rights act and a country in the toilet economically and morally. Every day a new horror of animal abuse or child abuse comes across my TV screen.
I live with hope for a better future only because the alternative is just too damn depressing.
I wouldn't know what to do without depression, but those small victories do add up. Hoping too much for the big ones will break your heart eventually.
ReplyDelete"a little and perhaps temporary victory over the animal meanness of human nature"
ReplyDeleteVery nicely put. That says a lot in very few words.
Or, "is the glass half full or is it half empty?"
ReplyDeleteIn the final analysis it is all about attitude. Ones own.