Our exceptionalism will save us, we think
What a strange time we live in. To some, and I must admit that at one time I was one of the “some,” this country, this place, even the building I live in seemed indestructible. Then came Donald Trump, and the plague that followed him, stirring up the hornet’s nest that has become this country. Add to that the corruption and lies that are the centrifugal force that spits us out ignoring the least among us; and then there’s nature that defies us all.
Right here, in Miami Beach, a 40-year-old building built to last forever, one recent night, a little past 1:30 in the morning, came flopping down like a concrete pancake that suddenly caves for lack of oversight, ignoring that needed baking soda-like maintenance necessary to keep things upright, and all because we’ve convinced ourselves of a type of exceptionalism that allows us to believe, falsely, that we are … indestructible. At the same time, as we believe our own ‘Big Lies,’ a building collapses killing more than 100 innocent souls while they slept dreaming of a tomorrow that never came.
I am reminded of the story about the man whose home was flooded and he prayed to God to save him. Someone in a rowboat shows up and offers to rescue him. The man refused, saying, “God will save me.” The waters continued to rise, and a motorboat came by and offered to rescue him, but he refused and said, “God will save me.” Then as the waters rose even higher, he climbed up on his roof and a helicopter dropped him a ladder. But still he refused, saying, “God will save me.” So the waters rose over his head and he drowned. When he got to heaven he asked God why He didn’t save him, and God said, “I sent you a rowboat, a motorboat and a helicopter. What more do you want?”
That is us in a nutshell.
We’ve been sent hurricanes bigger than we’ve ever seen. Wild fires that ravage areas, some as big as small countries. A president who malevolently swatted the hornet’s nest and laughed at the pain he’s caused; that he’s causing. An insurrection of white supremacists shrugged off by half a legislative branch who almost lost their lives because of it; there’s growing inequality so wide that some go without food and shelter while others get fat on thousand dollar dinners washed down with overpriced wines served on glass that costs more than what many blue-collar workers earn in a week; black against white; blue lives abusing black lives; lies repeated often enough that half the country believe them. And the water keeps rising… and we’re still waiting for a better boat we don’t have to row, or a ladder we don’t have to climb… to save us.
Consider it Newton’s law of action, or think of it as karma, the law of cause and effect by which each individual creates his own destiny by thoughts, words, and deeds.
Soon it may be too late. But our exceptionalism will save us. At least that’s what we think.
Disasters have been around since the beginning of time. People working together have overcome them. It’s how we’ve evolved. Presently, we’re not even close to achieving that. The working together, I mean.
The American empire is disintegrating before our very eyes. It’s imploding like that Surfside building that came down, at night, and without notice, because we believe that it can’t happen to us. And it’s mostly the innocent, most just trying to live a good life, loving their family and friends, who will suffer the most.
Let’s put our selfish and ego-driven exceptionalism aside, and let’s start doing the right thing. For ourselves, and for the rest of the world. Or one day we will have to face that most difficult of questions: “What more did you want?”
