Clear Choice

My favorite patriotic scene in American film is the conclusion of Saving Private Ryan. I remember when the movie first came out I was so intrigued to see it a rare weekday matinee was required. As the now elderly Private Ryan entreated his wife to reassure him “I have been a good man,” I remember scanning my fellow patrons throughout the theater. Of course all were riveted, with tears streaming down many cheeks. The looks were more than appreciation of a great movie; they struck me as both grateful and proud. Nothing could confirm the film’s quality more, a documentary of American greatness.

Were we not suffering the incalculable woes of our 2016 civic catastrophe, it is reasonable to fantasize this particular Memorial Day weekend could have been one for all time in the annals of the American experience. After successfully confronting a global pandemic with a mixture of an all-hands-on-deck coordinated government response led by experts equipped and authorized to employ their career training, and a nation of citizens fully cognizant of the disease’s malice and prepared to support each other while sacrificing routines for God and country, we could all be cautiously celebrating true American greatness capable of dispatching nature’s worst. What a glorious experience. If only!

Instead of the unifying cleansing 9/11 provided us, recalibrating our priorities and a sacred collective reaffirmation of our individual duty to our communities, we are now awash in the toxic sludge of MAGA “me me me” Covid-19 messaging. Make no mistake, the majority of us, led by decent and honorable state and local public servants, can be proud of how we have followed our best inclinations and continue to adhere to the discipline required to safeguard, not only our well being, but that of our neighbors. We have listened to those who make sense and exhibit fidelity to reason and expertise. Tragically for us and the world, this group does not include the POTUS. That this observation is now so obvious as to seem inane surely punctuates the depths of his menace, while engendering the hopelessness countless populations throughout history have felt as they succumbed to a soulless tyrant’s boot.

I must confess an utter disdain for life improvement gurus. Perhaps it’s arrogance, or a natural reticence to “join in,” or maybe a cynicism about motivations, a constant wariness of the Elmer Gantrys of the world looking to separate me from my money. Whatever the reason, I am usually not buying what is being sold. However, I have gleaned some observations that make sense as applicable to real world challenges. One is the notion our choices guide us, and accurately assessing what the options are is fundamental to moving forward in the proper life direction. So in the spirit of that advice, and November now a fast approaching five months away, let’s ponder our alternatives, formatted within our current Covid-19 reality, as well as the signposts Memorial Day altruism provides.

Option one is Stacey, a nurse and dear friend of 40 years, who in mid-March, as the Covid-19 crisis approached, established Maryland Communities Unite A-S-A-P from scratch. Her vision was created on the fly and has evolved into a thriving internet-coordinated operation with more than a thousand members, many fellow nurses eager to contribute what they can. Food, masks, shields, beds, care packages, expertise, information, there is little the group has not dispersed to their neighbors in need. The group’s FB photo log is an album of giving, picture after picture of masked crusaders delivering whatever is needed, motivated by nothing more than community.

When Stacey told me what she planned to create, I voiced my hope it wouldn’t be required. Her response was better to overreact than not be prepared. As her group attracts more members and addresses a steady stream of need, even as Maryland Covid-19 positives continue to trend upward, it’s very hard to find a more potent example of what underpins one side of our national divide, one of our choices.

The other option? It’s on Fox News 24/7, in its first President’s constant tweet storms, at Coconuts, an overpacked lake bar in the Ozarks, and in the empty eyes of nasty mobs following the President’s goading to protest the public safety guidance put forward by his own White House Task Force. It’s the other side of our civic coin, the one that demands first and takes second. It’s not what have you done for me lately; it’s whatever you have done or will do I’m not about to appreciate unless it’s sanctioned by the narrative I now reference the world by.

Memorial Day weekend is much like many of our other national holidays. While it honors a particular theme it also provides a referendum on our varying degrees of inclusion. While some are posting great times at social events, others feel the empty pinch of missing out if their own situation is not as festive. This weekend a large swath of America refuses to deny themselves 2020 Memorial Day memories while the rest of us sit on the sidelines like a bunch of scolds. It’s doubtful Coconuts in the Ozarks ever hosted such a massive, densely packed crowd. A large banner ordering patrons to observe “6-Foot Social Distancing” is relegated to ironic absurdity, and serves to lay bare the myth it’s all about economic desperation and not refusing to be denied good times. In previous years one would perhaps feel a tinge of envy, those of us a bit older maybe wistful pangs for youth gone too fast. This weekend it’s merely obscene, a glaring portrait of the delusional self-absorption sold constantly by a movement that now equates most all civic responsibility with liberal attacks on personal liberty.

Meanwhile, the President of the United States has liberated himself to go golfing as US deaths from Covid-19 approach the 100K mark. Fearful he hasn’t pandered enough to evangelicals, Trump last week made sure to categorize churches as “essential” and beseeched them to pack their houses…. although he wouldn’t be attending. Instead, plenty of time to do the only other thing he seems to enjoy: tweeting and retweeting division, not to mention insane accusations against enemies he wants to destroy. Forget laying wreaths or hitting his knees, Joe Scarborough needs to be brought to justice “many people believe.” As for the crisis of Covid-19? Solved. It’s the economy stupid! I’ll let you know how many deaths we can live with. Open things up… yesterday!

This weekend, perhaps more than any other, underscores our nation’s reliance on the battlefield for clarification of virtues necessary to our health as a republic. Certainly one’s life is the ultimate sacrifice, and we rightly distinguish those who have done so while at war. But this year such reverence rings hollow when so many can’t simply stay home, or put on a mask, to keep others safe. That our President shrilly cheers such selfishness is now something we expect. The question has become is it something we accept, and that’s a very vivid choice we must make. Years from now, visiting graveyards of those lost during this pandemic, I suppose none of us want to feel conflicted enough to require spouses to ease our doubts about how we benefitted from the sacrifices of others, or worse, actually contributed to increased fatalities. Our choices today will frame that discussion. The ruin of a good sunburn and hangover. BC