Thursday
May132010
The Air Out There
Thursday, May 13, 2010 at 03:52PM
(No, this is not a post about the environment. Not in the way you may be thinking, anyway).
It's like this.
You're in a field, sitting down, the sun is shining.
It's a beautiful day.
Just you and your thoughts.
I venture that the last thing on your mind is... the air you're breathing.
Breathing in air is one of those amazing miracles of life.
We need to do it to stay alive, yet we don't ever have to think about it. It's all so brilliant and incredibly efficient.
Can you imagine?
So, yes. The air.
You breath it in.
You breathe it out.
You do not think about it.
So, anyway, you and I, we're back in the field, now.
You're thinking your happy thoughts... what a beautiful day, I love the sunshine, did I leave the iron on... but what you're not thinking about is the air you're breathing.
You don't think about the fact that this field you're sitting in might be next to a chemical processing plant.
You do not think about the toxins in the air that are going into your lungs.
Because breathing in air? Requires no thinking.
When I first embarked on the study of history, it was difficult to come to terms with the paradoxical nature of our nation's origins. For example, this gem: all men are created equal... except every seventh man who happens to be owned by one of the previous six. And women are too stupid to care.
It was hard not to be judgmental and even more difficult not to scream, "HYPOCRITES!" every ten pages.
But, I realized something, thankfully, very early on.
A nation breathes the air.
It breathes in.
It breathes out.
And, for the most part, it does not think about the air. Because there's not enough time, and it's not exactly efficient. We keep the body moving by actually moving it, not by sitting around thinking about how it moves, where it's going or whether it should move at all.
We breathe the air in.
We breathe the air out.
We do not have to think about it in order to keep moving.
And, yet.
Every now and then someone does notice something funny in the air, in the way it smells or the way it tastes.
A William Lloyd Garrison, a Rosa Parks or maybe a Gloria Steinem will say, "Hmmm, something in this air is just not right."
They feel the disturbing molecules in the air that though invisible and exerting little effect on this very moment for most people, may grow into a devastating illness that eventually does affect everyone.
Throughout our history, some people have stopped and thought about the air and thus forced the rest of us to stop and think about it, too.
And, of course, there are people who say, maybe even scream, "The air is fine, we don't have time for this, we can't sit around thinking about the stupid air, we have enough air, anyway, and who cares if it's pure and clean... at least we have air and at least we can breathe it."
Or, worse, "Ah like the way the air is juss fiiine 'cause there's no waay Ah'm pickin' mah own cotton."
I would like each of you to think about the air you breathe today.
Think about discussions regarding universal health care, foreign policy, civil unions, policies restricting certain citizens from serving in the military, consumer protection, corporate responsibility, food production, offshore drilling, and alternative energy.
I'm not telling you what to think or even what I think.
I'm just asking you if you think the air is alright.
Is it good enough? Is it pure and clean and will it keep us healthy?
Or is it the kind of air that is good right now, but will be bad for us later?
We have to keep the body moving.
We don't have time to sit around and think about the air all the time.
So, yes, breathe the air in, and breathe it out.
But, just for a few moments each day, will you please think about the kind of air you think is best for us to breathe?*
*P.S. Watching the "news" is not thinking about the air. It's still just breathing it without thinking about it.
It's like this.
You're in a field, sitting down, the sun is shining.
It's a beautiful day.
Just you and your thoughts.
I venture that the last thing on your mind is... the air you're breathing.
Breathing in air is one of those amazing miracles of life.
We need to do it to stay alive, yet we don't ever have to think about it. It's all so brilliant and incredibly efficient.
Can you imagine?
Inner dialogue: Already time to get up? Oh, I neeeed coffee ... breathe in air... it's my turn for car pool... ooops, breathe in air... man, I hate carpool, then I have to pick up dry cleaning on the way home... breathe in air... where is that dry cleaning slip, "Honey-have-you-seen-the-dry-cleaning-slip" ... what am I going to wear todaa...
::thud::
Husband: I don't understand, she was the picture of health... what happened??!
Coroner: Sir, I see it all the time... she forgot to breathe. Tragic.
So, yes. The air.
You breath it in.
You breathe it out.
You do not think about it.
So, anyway, you and I, we're back in the field, now.
You're thinking your happy thoughts... what a beautiful day, I love the sunshine, did I leave the iron on... but what you're not thinking about is the air you're breathing.
You don't think about the fact that this field you're sitting in might be next to a chemical processing plant.
You do not think about the toxins in the air that are going into your lungs.
Because breathing in air? Requires no thinking.
When I first embarked on the study of history, it was difficult to come to terms with the paradoxical nature of our nation's origins. For example, this gem: all men are created equal... except every seventh man who happens to be owned by one of the previous six. And women are too stupid to care.
It was hard not to be judgmental and even more difficult not to scream, "HYPOCRITES!" every ten pages.
But, I realized something, thankfully, very early on.
A nation breathes the air.
It breathes in.
It breathes out.
And, for the most part, it does not think about the air. Because there's not enough time, and it's not exactly efficient. We keep the body moving by actually moving it, not by sitting around thinking about how it moves, where it's going or whether it should move at all.
We breathe the air in.
We breathe the air out.
We do not have to think about it in order to keep moving.
And, yet.
Every now and then someone does notice something funny in the air, in the way it smells or the way it tastes.
A William Lloyd Garrison, a Rosa Parks or maybe a Gloria Steinem will say, "Hmmm, something in this air is just not right."
They feel the disturbing molecules in the air that though invisible and exerting little effect on this very moment for most people, may grow into a devastating illness that eventually does affect everyone.
Throughout our history, some people have stopped and thought about the air and thus forced the rest of us to stop and think about it, too.
And, of course, there are people who say, maybe even scream, "The air is fine, we don't have time for this, we can't sit around thinking about the stupid air, we have enough air, anyway, and who cares if it's pure and clean... at least we have air and at least we can breathe it."
Or, worse, "Ah like the way the air is juss fiiine 'cause there's no waay Ah'm pickin' mah own cotton."
I would like each of you to think about the air you breathe today.
Think about discussions regarding universal health care, foreign policy, civil unions, policies restricting certain citizens from serving in the military, consumer protection, corporate responsibility, food production, offshore drilling, and alternative energy.
I'm not telling you what to think or even what I think.
I'm just asking you if you think the air is alright.
Is it good enough? Is it pure and clean and will it keep us healthy?
Or is it the kind of air that is good right now, but will be bad for us later?
We have to keep the body moving.
We don't have time to sit around and think about the air all the time.
So, yes, breathe the air in, and breathe it out.
But, just for a few moments each day, will you please think about the kind of air you think is best for us to breathe?*
*P.S. Watching the "news" is not thinking about the air. It's still just breathing it without thinking about it.
Reader Comments (41)
You just want me to start hyperventilating, don't you?
:)
I am breathing, and thinking... truly. It's weird how I've discovered this late in life that I am a mover and shaker when I want to be, and lately - I'm doin' a lot of moving and shaking.
Wow. This is a brilliant metaphor.
Well let's see... there's enough venom in the air right now to make another civil war. We cry and wail about three thousand people getting killed on 9/11 but we wouldn't mind of Rush Limbaugh or Anne Coulter or Michael Moore or Chris Matthews or slow drivers just died a painful death. And if some bonehead gets a car bomb right we'll spend more time blaming each other and limiting each other's rights than thinking about what's going on in the world. Other than that it's not like we're a country of hypocrites or anything. PWAAA HAHA.
Seriously. For the first time in my life I am actually hoping for the Balkanization of the US. There sure are a lot of people looking at each other and going "I don't want THAT in my country. Do IO have to live with THAT??"
I tell you, I can't think of another people right now less deserving of world leadership. If I lived somewhere else the last person I'd listen to for advice right now would be an American. Cuz those people are nuts!
I just was listening to Floyd in the car sing, "Breathe, breathe in the air
Don't be afraid to care "
AND today my brother in law just sent me an article about about a yogi who claims to have not eaten or drunk for 70 years and powerful influence of chi (breath energy) on the body and yogic techniques like "ambrosia-drinking
@RW, I was right there with you until you claimed not to be able to think of another people less deserving of world leadership. That's just silly. While I am far from claiming that we are the people most deserving of world leadership, it takes very little effort to think of many other peoples far less deserving. Also, as a people, we've managed to resist quite a bit that some subgroups have tried to promote. Not everything (*cough* Patriot Act *cough* DMCA *cough*), but quite a lot.
Well said.
I don't mean to take anything away from the pivotal people you've mentioned, but society has to be at least somewhat ready for change for it to be successful. When you're judging historic leaders, be sure to keep that in mind.
This in no way is meant to take away from your larger point, and certainly the best way to get society ready for change is for forward-thinking individuals to gradually push it that direction. Or drag it, as the case may be.
That being said, the fact that we keep running into what seem to be the *same* issues over and over, just with a slightly different flavor, is quite frustrating.
I believe we have to shake our world from within, if we leave it to the leaders they will forget about the little people trying to breathe every day. I think we all go about it in our own way, but everyone should try...
I breathe in the air and sometimes, I don't like it. I don't like what I feel when I take it in sometimes. Not just the environmental aspect of it, but the emotional haze that it carries. Sometimes, I feel it is toxic, carrying impurities worse than that of cigarette smoke into my lungs. The universe has changed. When I breathe in on occasion, I feel the deep thickness of disdain and hate in the air, and it makes me long for simpler, easier times. We take breathing for granted as we do so many other things around us. When I take the time to focus on breathing in, I try to think peaceful thoughts, pretending that each breath is cleansing some of the impurities out of my heart and mind. When that does happen, it compels me to feel such a state of zen that it is indescribable. But when the air is toxic...you can feel that as well. It sets the tone for the day. I have given myself over to deep breathing exercises as a way to feel calmer, more at peace with my surroundings. It doesn't always work, but I work with what God gives us.
@Ren, that you feel you may crawl into my head and judge in my behalf the conclusions I'm supposed to make with the data I have is, to me, indicative of the wrong-headedness that lies at the foundation of the idea that there even is such a thing as "World Leadership."
You're poisoned with American Exceptionalism, it may seem, to the degree you feel the viewpoint needs to be imposed on someone else's conclusions.
"Word leadership", especially coming from the West, is a prettier way of talking about the White Man's Burden. And any cursory review of world history on an tenth grade level ought to show that.
You may say I am wrong, and I certainly have been and may be again. You may say I am misinformed, I try to keep up but there are only so many hours in the day. You may say I am full of myself and think too highly of my own opinion, I stand accused and readily admit I'm guilty of yet more than that.
But to call my conclusions "silly" looks like a conclusion you don't actually have a right to.
God, I've missed you.
In other news, my head really hurts now.
In other-other news, I think I just hyperventilated.
See, I try not to watch the news too much because usually afterwards and during I can NOT breathe. Those bastards get me all riled up.
The smell in the air is our politicians farting in our middle class faces.
If I were to sit in the field I think I may worry too much about the ants.
Great metaphor though, a lovely post.
@RW, this had me laughing out load from the get go. I couldn't decide if that was intentional or not. Eventually, I decided it wasn't.
I didn't bring up "World Leadership", you did. I also never claimed that we should have that role and never made any claim of "American Exceptionalism". I simply claimed that we aren't the worst people that could be placed in that role and that it seems silly to claim that we are. I didn't even disagree with the thrust of your comment, only that final claim.
So, are you telling me that you honestly cannot think of any group of people in the world today that would be worse in the leadership role as you've defined it?
As for crawling into your head, how did I give that impression? Was it by making the declarative statement "That's just silly." rather than something like "That seems silly to me."? That it was my opinion seemed implied. Your description of my feelings seems much more an example of what you've described.
This conversation still amuses me because I don't disagree with the sentiment you originally expressed.
@Ren, I can’t think of another people right now less deserving of world leadership. The reason I feel this way is what we look like now. We're xenophobic, carry out our business and our policies as if we're the best thing going, feel we have the right to nation-build in cultures we don't even understand, are watching what I think is a dangerous polarization within our own political universe being fed by some pretty loud demagogues on the radio and the "advocate" news channels like Fox and MSNBC. We're passing recidivist immigration laws that make us look like we're in 1910 not 2010. We squandered the good will of the world after 9/11 by putting on a cowboy hat, and after regaining our standing by electing a President with a new heritage compared to other guys who have held the office we are now demonstrating - as the world watches in confusion - how he can't make anybody on any side happy anymore. We look like a bunch of idiots and it relates to Faiqa's characterization - in my opinion - of what the "air" is like. I think that's a serious list, and it leads me to think we certainly don't deserve to be in a position of world leadership that we seem to assume we're entitled to.
And all you got is it's "silly", here's some internet laughter, and equivocation... We're not as bad as others / we haven't been the best / you agree / you don't agree. Whatever.
What I want to know is where you're hiding Stimpy.
@RW, Stimpy is automatically whomever I'm with. So, at the moment, I guess that's you. :-)
"Silly" is certainly not all I got from what you've said. You make lots of good points. I just get hung up on what I see as hyperbole delivered as if it weren't.
Some groups that I think would likely do a worse job in our shoes: drug cartels, the Catholic Church, China, the Taliban, North Korea, and AT&T. Oh, wait. That last one might be us after all.
Of course, that in no way excuses our behavior. I just have trouble with the idea that things couldn't be worse.
Unfortunately, I do not see the path out of our current situation. Perhaps the Balkanization you mentioned would help, but at a high cost and with a very low certainty. I'm hoping we'll discover that we're at a pendulum turning point and things will begin to improve. Of course, we've been nation building for so long now that the pendulum metaphor for that aspect seems absurd.
@Ren, Except I wasn't using hyperbole, I was just summing up an opinion, for which I gave reasonable examples to demonstrate the conclusion. That you read it as hyperbole is not my problem.
@RW, you gave reasonable examples to demonstrate why we have been poor stewards but not a single one to support your claim that we are the worst choice. Using superlatives when the scope of choices is so large is exactly the kind of thing that leads to the polarization you mentioned earlier.
While you are certainly entitled to your opinion, I'm entitled to mine as well. You think we're the least deserving of world leadership and I think that's silly. Undeserving, yes, but least, no. Apparently, our positions on this are intractable, though I've enjoyed the discourse.
Can't you just tell me what to do instead? Jesus.
@Ren, Boy, that was a lot of fun to read!
One argument for us being the worst choice as World Leader Number Uno is the large amount of power we have to direct pressure upon any other peoples or society simply because of the very large economic stick we carry. Economies are running the world now, and the countries that are built up behind them are just a facade. We go where we go and do what we do because of the almighty dollah. Sometimes the richest kid on the block is also the biggest douchebag. And sometimes it's because he's the richest kid on the block.
Just one argument for someone else being the worst choice scenario is General Than Shwe and his cronies over in Myanmar. There are plenty more, of course. The atrocities committed under strict military rule can be frightening.
Sorry, I got caught up in Ren and RW's argument up above and I forgot what I wanted to say. I hate when that happens! Let's see...it was probably something about boobs...hmmm
@B.E. Earl, yes, I accept the argument that being the most powerful (by some measures) may in-and-of-itself make us the worst choice, but I was presuming that the power was part-and-parcel with the leadership. Thus, any other people in the leadership role would necessarily have the power as well. If that's not the case -- if we would have a world leader without the power -- then that's a different scenario. Seems like it would be a puppet situation, though.
Out of left field, I'd also note that our federal government wields its economic stick against the states as well, in a what I think is probably a distortion of the Constitutional separation of powers. Though I guess the states go along with it by choice, so not a definite usurpation.
So, we should each just become a humidifier of change. Breathe in that bad nasty dry air and breathe out the moisture filled clean air. Suck in the air of hate, selfishness, and blame. Breathe out the air of peace, social responsibility, and almost-free market capitalism.
I am not sure if I was being serious with this comment or not? :)
@Sybil Law, "this late in life?" Oh, yeah, you're sooo ancient...
@Miss Britt, I know, right? I'll be able to go at least three weeks without posting now and still be guilt free...
No. But tell us how you *really* feel. I do agree with you to a certain extent, but I think we'll make it. I hope, and I think holding onto hope is essential to us making it.
@Faiqa, Also... this discussion about "world leadership" is sort of a remnant, isn't it? There is no leadership... as Earl said, it really is all about money and influence. The term leadership implies some sort of ethical or moral resolve or duty. C'mon. We're all grown ups here.
@Clayton, Wow. That sounds like one hungry yogi...
@Dee, Thank you.
@Ren, There is a huge difference between knowing that slavery is wrong and doing something about it. I use this example because I don't believe that American society as a whole was "ready for change" in terms of abolition. That's why there was a war, instead of peaceful compromise. I don't think that our society as a whole was "ready" for integration, either.
I'm nearing the end of a Masters in History, so I know that there is a tendency to substitute hagiography for history, however I do ascribe to the belief that key individuals impact the direction of events and societal change. I also think that notable individuals can create a readiness that was not there before. People and nations are rarely ready for change on a collective level. So, I stand by my use of those historic leaders up there. And, actually, after typing that whole paragraph I realize that we're agreeing with each other.
And, yeah, SSDD as far as the issues, and I think that will always be the case. I think the hope is that while the issues remain the same... humankind will find new ways of dealing with them.
@Becca, Definitely. The interesting thing is, though, that leaders aren't always leaders. They start off as "little people."
@CP, The universe has changed... hmmm. I don't know if it's the universe that changes or us.
@SciFi Dad, Heh. I've missed you, too. I should give out free paper bags to all my readers.
@Hockeymandad, Thanks. And, yeah, whoo, those politicians must have had Mexican, because, WOW.
@Avitable, As if I have a problem telling you what to do...
@B.E. Earl, Hahahaha! That was good.
@Tariq, Sit down before you hurt yourself.
@Faiqa, For myself I don't understand why polemics would be looked on as un-grown up but, regardless, I'm thinking NATO and the G7 is a good place to start looking to see whether or not we think and act as if we're in that position. Not to mention who is in an actual position of command in Afghanistan, the controlling voice within the IMF or the fact that we have American forces in 40 countries at the present time. 40. There are enough voices in the world wondering out loud what would fill the void "if America left its position of world leadership" and so - no - I don't think it's a remnant at all. It may be a vestige of the Cold War, but it is a reality. It may be an obsolete way for Americans to consider policy (especially since few of us recognize the http://www.amazon.com/dp/0805088156" rel="nofollow">Era of American Exceptionalism has been over for some time now) And my presentment of a case about why we don't deserve to have that role still hasn't been squarely addressed outside of "I don't think so", "don't be silly", or "bwa ha ha."
@RW, Oops sorry I goofed. We're deployed into over http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deployments_of_the_United_States_Military" rel="nofollow"> 150 countries. My bad.
@RW, I meant "we're all grown ups" regarding the calling of the position we play "leadership" in a moral or ethical light. I wasn't referring to the discussion, at all. It's a good question and one worth asking.
For the most part, I agree with most of your sentiment. Yet, the fact is that indignation over whether the United States "deserves" to be a world leader or not seems misplaced to me. Power has seldom resided in the hands of the people who "deserve" it. Those who deserve it generally deserve it because they neither strive for it nor desire it. The ones with the power have it because they are willing to do just about anything to attain it. I guess I am *trying* to say that leadership and power are distinct and not to be confused with one another.
And that, IMO, applies to more than just nations and states.
Ironically enough, I just came outside to get away from the smelly inside of my office and to have a cigarette.
I try not to think about the air quality, unless it's a day when there is a lot of pollen. I think our planet is very good at taking care of herself, and that we don't have to go overboard but should try not to abuse her too much.
when i was a kid, i used to have panic attacks that i would forget to breathe and die while i was sleeping. really.