I spent one of the last weekends of summer out on Long Island. People sailing on the bay. Families enjoying the beach. Children swimming in the ocean. Parents trying to catch up on their reading.
I went to the US Open to see Federer take apart his opponents. To watch the Williams sisters bring their particular brand of courage to the court once again. To see Henin hunker down and prevail.
I went to Radio City to hear Tony Bennett sing at a benefit for his arts education charity. Bennett, who brings more talent and musical history to a single performance than any ten artists, sang as beautifully as ever. But to see him at that great venue was a special evening. To be Tony Benett, the real Tony Bennett, for just one night. That would be something.
On Sunday, I attend the Emmys and hope my show fares well there and that we have a good season on NBC.
I live in New York and as 9/11 commemorations approach, I can't help but think that this city, this country of ours, this is paradise. Here. Now. Not some promise of where we may go in some Christian or Muslim depiction of an afterlife. All that one could hope for, that one could pray to God for, all that one could dream of having, without having to lie or steal or hurt another person in order to gain it, all of that is here on this Earth now.
Who is running for president that can remind us of that? Who, among all of these people, can promise to help us get our faith back? Who can promise us that they will lead us out of these horribly cynical times? Who can help us redefine our place in a world of ever shifting political realities? Who can gives us the courage to make the sacrifices we will certainly have to make in order to accommodate nature's new rules? Who can help us to overcome the awful shame we have endured during the past seven years?
My friend told me about a T-shirt she saw. "It's not the end of the world but I can see it from here." Perhaps the Earth possesses a self-purging mechanism. Perhaps we are destined to be purged, as the Earth seeks to balance its systems. In the meantime, I hold that this is paradise. Beautiful to the point of perfection. Well worth fighting for. That fight is on now and its first major battle is 14 months away.
More people than died in Viet Nam are murdered by gangs, thugs and serial killers in this country each year. The FDA allows poisons in food and drugs that make people sick so chemical companies can get rich. And a biased media celebrates freaks or bohemian minorities while majorities have no access to or reflection of positive imagery of their own.
Meanwhile, our government is lead by bottom line, double life Machiavellian thieves and religious psychopaths who force upon us a new global order because they fear the second millennium, wish to balkanize the US into a 3rd world zoo and save tax free paradise for wealthy people who live behind gated communities.
It's easy to be positive when you're insolated or isolated from the truth by celebrity, fame and fortune. Those in high places are too comfortable to be negative and worry about the man on the street, who suffers the most from evil in the world and is then expected to fight our revolutions because some people have too much to lose or simply don't care.
I agree with the gist of what you are saying. But it is hard to be in "paradise" when so much is wrong with the world and human beings in particular. We are like a cancer on the earth and we will end up destroying ourselves and the planet. The planet will eventually recover. A liberal education is the key to survival, but I do not see that happening - especially in this country. The Rethgulicans love to starve education or get a bunch of home-schooled drones. We are doomed. However, I do love the simple things in life that I enjoy everyday, although living under the Bush delusion has been extremely depressing. Thanks for trying to lift our spirits a bit.
Peace
They've (we've) paved Paradise and put up a Parking Lot.
Time to make some repairs along those lines..before Mother Nature decides she will take it all back on her own.
We need to become an Organic Society..in every sense of the word. V.