By Judith Gayle | Political Waves
Through early morning fog I see
visions of the things to be
the pains that are withheld for me
I realize and I can see…That suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
and I can take or leave it if I please.— Suicide Is Painless from the movie M.A.S.H.; lyrics by Johnny Mandel
I hope you’ll forgive me if this week’s piece has more sadness in the soul than fire in the belly. I’m not in the mood to rail against the slow progress of the ship of state, or howl in frustration at the Teflon-coated corporations that continue to exploit and victimize even as we stand up to them, or even to blast the short-sighted and self-serving for their destructive world view.
Wading through the news of the week is about as appealing as tuning in to reality television, which is not actual reality but an exercise in emotional manipulation. I’m just not up to it. I’m wrung out, emotionally-speaking. Perhaps you are as well, so let’s just touch gently on a few points, shall we?
This week, I’ll begin at the beginning. The tornado that hit Joplin on Sunday was still a fresh scream of pain and bewilderment on Monday in my part of the world. Joplin is close by, the last wide spot in the road before you hit Oklahoma, the place where our local PBS station broadcasts.
Six degrees of separation in Joplin dwindles down to one or two here in the Pea Patch. What was quickly exploited by national media as another horrific weather emergency quietly became an endurance test of grief and loss for locals.
Local coverage featured interviews with the frantic couple whose teenage son had graduated high school that day and was pulled through the sun roof of the family car by 200 mph winds. A teenage girl wouldn’t leave the parking lot of the Home Depot where her father was last seen, its concrete walls fallen in under a collapsed roof; later in the week, bodies were removed. That was followed by the tearful prayers of a couple looking for their toddler, swept out of their arms into the vast unknown of the jet stream; they solicited prayers that he would be found safe, not dropped but cradled by the ferocious winds and deposited safely in some field. His little body was found yesterday.