Waiting on the Avalanche
I've been languishing here for over ten months now.
My days are long, my leisure time precious. I try to call my wife every night; my parents when I can spare it. I check the news when I can; try to get a glimpse of what's really happening stateside.
What I see there disappoints me.
On the one hand, I can't take anything seriously on the cable networks--more time devoted to Paris than Baghdad. On the other, I check the news sites and all I see is scandal, scandal, scandal. More and more, it seems to me like this power structure is falling apart. Wiretapping, fraud, obstruction of justice, torture. The hits just keep coming.
More and more, the tide of opinion turns against America, and against our leadership. More and more, the group of people once thought unstoppable--messiahs even--face blow after blow to their credibility. A political party that used 9/11 to secure a stranglehold on power in America is now being forced to its knees. The stroke that could end this--the stroke that bring down the corruption and lead us into a new day--begs to be let fall.
It's gotten so bad that we started talking about presidential primaries a year early. We are that desperate for change that we are already talking about a changing of the guard. Whispers of impeachment, of troop drawdown, linger in the air. Everyone I know is sick of the talking points, sick of the charade...
And yet, nobody does anything.
Nothing is changing.
I feel like I'm standing at the bottom of a mountain, while high above a plate of snow and ice slowly warms in the late February sun. It is cold at this altitude, but the promise of spring is in the air, and up from the valleys comes the fecund smell of melting riverwater.
Soon, very soon I think, some layer in the snow will begin to melt and lose its strength. When it does, a wall of white will wash down the face of the peak; uprooting trees, laying bare faces of stark rock, and burying anyone who dares to stand in its way. An avalanche is coming, I think, and though I fear it, I await its arrival.
There is too much atop the mountain, which has stood for far too long. It is time for change, time for renewal; time for us to cry out to the world that we are tired of the way things are.
So when, I ask you, America? When will the avalanche come? When will the stink of it all become too much and the public demand a return to priorities at home? When will you demand to be heard?
I mouth these questions in whisper to the mountain; but the mountain, resolute, remains silent.
Until then, I am waiting for its response; waiting for the rumble.
I am waiting; waiting on the avalanche.
My days are long, my leisure time precious. I try to call my wife every night; my parents when I can spare it. I check the news when I can; try to get a glimpse of what's really happening stateside.
What I see there disappoints me.
On the one hand, I can't take anything seriously on the cable networks--more time devoted to Paris than Baghdad. On the other, I check the news sites and all I see is scandal, scandal, scandal. More and more, it seems to me like this power structure is falling apart. Wiretapping, fraud, obstruction of justice, torture. The hits just keep coming.
More and more, the tide of opinion turns against America, and against our leadership. More and more, the group of people once thought unstoppable--messiahs even--face blow after blow to their credibility. A political party that used 9/11 to secure a stranglehold on power in America is now being forced to its knees. The stroke that could end this--the stroke that bring down the corruption and lead us into a new day--begs to be let fall.
It's gotten so bad that we started talking about presidential primaries a year early. We are that desperate for change that we are already talking about a changing of the guard. Whispers of impeachment, of troop drawdown, linger in the air. Everyone I know is sick of the talking points, sick of the charade...
And yet, nobody does anything.
Nothing is changing.
I feel like I'm standing at the bottom of a mountain, while high above a plate of snow and ice slowly warms in the late February sun. It is cold at this altitude, but the promise of spring is in the air, and up from the valleys comes the fecund smell of melting riverwater.
Soon, very soon I think, some layer in the snow will begin to melt and lose its strength. When it does, a wall of white will wash down the face of the peak; uprooting trees, laying bare faces of stark rock, and burying anyone who dares to stand in its way. An avalanche is coming, I think, and though I fear it, I await its arrival.
There is too much atop the mountain, which has stood for far too long. It is time for change, time for renewal; time for us to cry out to the world that we are tired of the way things are.
So when, I ask you, America? When will the avalanche come? When will the stink of it all become too much and the public demand a return to priorities at home? When will you demand to be heard?
I mouth these questions in whisper to the mountain; but the mountain, resolute, remains silent.
Until then, I am waiting for its response; waiting for the rumble.
I am waiting; waiting on the avalanche.
posted by Milo at 1:01 PM
8 Comments:
You aren't the only one wondering wtf is taking so long.
Every new story, every new revelation of perfidy, every single time our president defies the law and claims executive privilege for something else inappropriate... there's a whole 10 minutes of outrage. I keep wondering what the happy dancing fuck it's going to take to kick the citizenship off its collective fat ass. I'm a little afraid of that answer.
We're trying Milo. There are many of who are doing our best to set things right in this country. But it's going to take everyone pulling together and heading in the right direction to get it done.
I firmly believe that whatever is going to happen will effect us all, globally. It's scary to think of what the aftermath may be because it's uncertain, but anything has to be better than it is now. Nero's playing while Rome's burning.
Some of us are trying Milo. Have faith...
People are still too afraid of the big bad Muslim. I want to believe that people are changing when I see the polls, but I don't think anything good is going to happen for a while unfortunately. When people stop listening to the hype and stop being afraid of the things that are beyond their control, then maybe the course will shift.
Milo,
I've been trying to post comments once in a while for a couple of months since I discovered this blog. There have been several, all have failed to get finished cos my pc is crap and something went awry. However, though I cannot precis all I have lost, here's the rub. First, good luck. Go back home soon, safe. I feel you are wiser than when you left and you were no fool then. In response to this particular post, this spirit of impending change, fresh wind blowing the bad smell away all reminds me of past times when it's been said before. Every new administration or govt tells us the old one was wrong. LBJ, Nixon, flower power, black power, Malcolm X; all American turning points which people must have felt were going to end up turning for the better. But the power brokers and money men and oil barons and harbingers of alleged democracy are still there dictating their terms louder than the 'common woman or man in the street' who they perport to represent or serve. They have lied, they will continue to lie to cover their lies. Any change sadly may only be superficial, but at least something may be positively different for somebody, somewhere. I wish I had more hope for the world, but as I've got older, hope seems to have shrunk into the simple everyday pleasures of nature and love for my kids, replacing perhaps naive grandiose thoughts of a peaceful common sense revolution. However, to conclude what I hope is not too depressing a comment to your excellent blog....
Be lucky.
I've got no patience now
So sick of complacence now
I've got no patience now
So sick of complacence now
Sick of sick of sick of sick of you
Time has come to pay...
Know your enemy!
Come on!
Yes I know my enemies
They're the teachers who taught me to fight me
Compromise, conformity, assimilation, submission
Ignorance, hypocrisy, brutality, the elite
All of which are American dreams
All of which are American dreams
All of which are American dreams
All of which are American dreams
All of which are American dreams
All of which are American dreams
All of which are American dreams
Written in '92...damn it's a slow fuse.
-nous
Don't let it get to you.
It's all media bullshit. It means as much as the money the ratings bring in.
Stay safe.
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