John James Audubon's Washington Sea Eagle is a magnificent bird. But there is a problem with it.
It might not be real.
While America's master of depicting birds is not known for just making them up, the fact is that this glorious specimen has never been found in nature. So either it went extinct after Audubon captured its golden glory, or he just got the bird wrong -- it isn't as if he could take reference photographs.
Making the Washington Sea Eagle the bird of the moment. As a stand in for our beleaguered nation. Glorious yes. But is it real? Or just a pretty picture? Did our land of freedom and liberty ever really exist? Or is it just a flattering story we've convinced ourselves is true?
It might not be real.
While America's master of depicting birds is not known for just making them up, the fact is that this glorious specimen has never been found in nature. So either it went extinct after Audubon captured its golden glory, or he just got the bird wrong -- it isn't as if he could take reference photographs.
Making the Washington Sea Eagle the bird of the moment. As a stand in for our beleaguered nation. Glorious yes. But is it real? Or just a pretty picture? Did our land of freedom and liberty ever really exist? Or is it just a flattering story we've convinced ourselves is true?
Glory seems in short supply, as congressmen cave and the thin veneer of values that many at least gave lip service to is utterly abandoned. Economic responsibility? Gone. Concern for the struggling? Gone. Half the nation watches in horror through latticed fingers as Donald Trump codifies and strengthens his hold on power and entrenches his administration policy of cruelty and abuse. While the other half either cheers or yawns, cycling through Instagram, bored with it all.
I'm ... what? Tired. Distracted. A little bored, to be honest, because the story lately never changes. The bad guys win. Still keeping track, sort of, despite a personal life that has suddenly become very, very busy.
Honestly, I've enjoyed the break. I could get used to this. In fact, I have a fine obituary ready to go for Old Obit Week #5.
But ... well ... am I the only one who thinks Old Obit Week is feeling a little ... old? Stale. I like to give you your money's worth (which is a joke, ha ha, because you don't pay anything. Get it?)
While I'm still officially on vacation, from the paper, helping my son relocate his new family, extending my week off to bury my mother to a second week off to welcome my granddaughter — talk about a shift in tone — an email from a reader served as a firebell in the night, a call to duty, such as it is.I'm ... what? Tired. Distracted. A little bored, to be honest, because the story lately never changes. The bad guys win. Still keeping track, sort of, despite a personal life that has suddenly become very, very busy.
Honestly, I've enjoyed the break. I could get used to this. In fact, I have a fine obituary ready to go for Old Obit Week #5.
But ... well ... am I the only one who thinks Old Obit Week is feeling a little ... old? Stale. I like to give you your money's worth (which is a joke, ha ha, because you don't pay anything. Get it?)
"Hi Neil," JS begins.
"I am of German heritage. I have friends that are German immigrants. I have always struggled with how the German citizens of the 1930-40 era could capitulate to the horror of the Holocaust. Today, after the passing of the big bad bill, I understand how good people will look away. It's very sad and i need you to write about it. Help me make this ok or help me make it better.Please write something to help me. Help all of your readers.Thx. Your readers love you."And I love you guys, too. Truly. I'd feel stupid writing this for nobody.
My first thought was that I could never make this okay and wouldn't want to try. How could it be okay? This confederation of cowards kneecapping the poor while lavishing resources on our aborning police states. This is the exact opposite of okay. It's horrible. My general optimism sags under the weight of events. With far worse certain to come.
One thing that made taking time off easier is there is nothing useful to say that I haven't been saying for years. This is a process, turning our flawed republic into a totalitarian state and then, maybe, turning away from that doom. We punched the ticket, we need to take the trip, to go through it, unfortunately. This is the part where we endure. It isn't pleasant. Bad things are supposed to feel bad. If you think this is terrible, wait. It gets worse.
One thing that made taking time off easier is there is nothing useful to say that I haven't been saying for years. This is a process, turning our flawed republic into a totalitarian state and then, maybe, turning away from that doom. We punched the ticket, we need to take the trip, to go through it, unfortunately. This is the part where we endure. It isn't pleasant. Bad things are supposed to feel bad. If you think this is terrible, wait. It gets worse.
There is good news: this epoch will end someday. But until it does, all that decent Americans can do is pay attention and manifest ourselves in whatever small ways we can. I can't pretend this blog post or my Sun-Times column have any influence whatsoever. But they can buck up readers like JS, and that is not without value.
I wrote her back, saying, essentially, now is a time for courage and forbearance, which are free, and no one can deny you. I am a fan of an organization that puts much stock in the concept of hitting rock bottom — that you have to reach some unacceptable nadir before improvement is possible. For a while, I hoped the insurrection of Jan. 6,2021, had to be that bottom. But I was wrong. Obviously we have further to slide. The future of America includes concentration camps.
Shit, the present of America includes concentration camps.
If being in a state of constant anxiety would shorten the Trump's era by 15 minutes, I would do that. But the entire collection of voices thundering against him have done exactly diddly squat. He's stronger than ever. Yet I remain strangely optimistic. Maybe it's some kind of psychotic disconnect and denial. Maybe I'm relieved I'm not in a camp, yet. But I do retain a bedrock faith in this country that cannot be shaken . The good guys win, eventually. This country defeated King George II, the Confederacy, Imperial Japan, the Nazis and the Soviet Union. The liar, bully, fraud and traitor cannot prevail forever. We will defeat this monster. Just not anytime soon.
I wrote her back, saying, essentially, now is a time for courage and forbearance, which are free, and no one can deny you. I am a fan of an organization that puts much stock in the concept of hitting rock bottom — that you have to reach some unacceptable nadir before improvement is possible. For a while, I hoped the insurrection of Jan. 6,2021, had to be that bottom. But I was wrong. Obviously we have further to slide. The future of America includes concentration camps.
Shit, the present of America includes concentration camps.
If being in a state of constant anxiety would shorten the Trump's era by 15 minutes, I would do that. But the entire collection of voices thundering against him have done exactly diddly squat. He's stronger than ever. Yet I remain strangely optimistic. Maybe it's some kind of psychotic disconnect and denial. Maybe I'm relieved I'm not in a camp, yet. But I do retain a bedrock faith in this country that cannot be shaken . The good guys win, eventually. This country defeated King George II, the Confederacy, Imperial Japan, the Nazis and the Soviet Union. The liar, bully, fraud and traitor cannot prevail forever. We will defeat this monster. Just not anytime soon.
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