Broken Places

“I’ll venture to say that the attack on America by its current leaders is breaking open the carefully tended falsehoods which our nation has so fondly nurtured. And while our country has had social upheavals before, this is, perhaps, the first time that we are being forced to admit that so many hard-fought battles by courageous men and women in our history may have been won, but the war on bigotry, racism, and misogyny has not.”—Helen Noakes

Waking Point

By Helen Noakes

SAN FRANCISCO California—(Weekly Hubris)—February 2018—It’s no revelation to say that the United States is in the midst of an immense crisis. Our Constitution, our laws of proper conduct, and our integrity are under siege, leading many of us to reconsider our self-image as a largely decent nation with a conscience. In short, our idealized view of ourselves has shattered, forcing us to take a close and unpleasant look at what lies beneath the mask we’ve been happy to wear and advertise for years.

I confess that I am appalled at the acceptance and approval of grossly predatory and bigoted behavior by our nation’s leaders which some in our country exhibit. And, I was frightened by it.

I was.

After the initial shock of seeing decidedly dangerous and unqualified individuals assume the helm of power, I stopped to reassess. A quote from Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms came to mind: “The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places.”

I’ll venture to say that the attack on America by its current leaders is breaking open the carefully tended falsehoods which our nation has so fondly nurtured. And while our country has had social upheavals before, this is, perhaps, the first time that we are being forced to admit that so many hard-fought battles by courageous men and women in our history may have been won, but the war on bigotry, racism, and misogyny has not.

Like a patient being informed of a pernicious disease, we are allowed to be afraid, to grieve, to rage. But until and unless we resolve to undergo treatment, we have no hope of recovery.

There is a reason for this dark passage in America. It is meant to show us the cancer which eats away at us. It is up to us to take steps to heal the broken places.

Healing takes time, commitment, collaboration, and fierce focus, but it is possible. And while I’m heartened to see earnest men and women of all races, creeds, and generations, working towards that end, I’m hoping that their diverse organizations will unite in a combined strategy to combat our country’s serious, deadly disease.