If We Could Let Go Of Our

We Are A People Captivated By The Power And Romance Of Metaphor, Forever Seeking The Invisible Through The Image Of The Visible.

Power Broken Into A Thousand Pieces Can Be Hidden And Disowned.

Talk About The Flag Or Drugs Or Crime (never About Race Or Class Or Justice) And Follow The Yellow Brick Road To The Wonderful Land Of Consensus. In Place Of Honest Argument Among Consenting Adults The Politicians Substitute A Lullaby For Frightened Children: The Pretense That Conflict Doesn't Really Exist, That We Have Achieved The Blessed State In Which We No Longer Need Politics.

The Practice Of Our Democracy Depends On A Sense Of, And Knowledge Of, History In The Same Way That Playing In The World Series Requires A Bat And A Ball.

About The Presence Of Death And Dying I Don't Remember The Society In The 1950s Being So Skittish As It Has Since Become. People Still Died At Home, Among Relatives And Friends, Often In The Care Of A Family Physician. Death Was Still To Be Seen Sitting In The Parlor, Hanging In A Butcher Shop, Sometimes Lying In The Street.