Revolution?

"History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” Mark Twain

I often look to history, both personal and cultural, to try and understand my own behaviors and those collectively exhibited by society. The coronavirus pandemic which has engulfed the United States and the world at large is frightening in its own right but it brings to the fore many issues which plague our existence and portend our demise. That having being said, we have been here before. Once upon a time our nation went to war with itself over the rights of states to self-determine. Retrospectively, it is hard to fathom that millions of people fought and died for the right to own other human beings and to maintain a certain lifestyle but they did. It is estimated that 620,000 people died in the Civil War; a war which was anything but civil. The brutality of the conflict which claimed all those hundreds of thousands of lives also destroyed the economy, the infrastructure, and vast amount of property in the South. It began a journey of equality and the merging of cultures that has still not been completed to this day.

We have become a nation which values celebrity over intellect and wealth above integrity. We spend vast amounts of resources on ways to intimidate and sometimes kill our supposed enemies instead of health care for our citizens. We negatively affect the environment to such an extent that we are now being exposed to diseases carried by bats that are forced to retreat from rising global temperatures and deforestation. We elect people to lead us who validate our fears, beguile us with tales of success and are popular on television. We are forced to endure a government which does not represent the interests of the people but instead caters to big business and the power of wealth. Even the law which was once believed sacrosanct has now been eroded to farcical levels.

Is a revolution in the offing? That remains to be seen. I do not wish death or even illness on a single person but the reality is that both are coming and we barely have the power to mitigate the human toll. But in my mind, there is a tipping point in which the citizenry of this country will rise in protest. If hundreds of thousands of us die in part because of poor leadership, if there is a complete collapse of the economy and a depression follows, if the powers that be continue to rape the environment for profit and in doing so endanger the world’s health, if the chasm continues to grow between the haves and have nots, if the rule of law no longer applies to a privileged class of people, if these things happen simultaneously to form the perfect storm of discontent then revolution should follow. 

I have faced both physical and mental confrontation in my life. For those who have not felt the threat of physical violence or public humiliation let me tell you what it feels like. When confronted the first thing that is felt is fear. That fear causes the physical reaction of adrenaline being dumped into your system. That adrenaline creates a physical power that can be used to either fight the aggressor or flee from danger. Both of these primal responses have appropriate applications but ultimately a choice has to be made. Feeling fear does not make you a coward. We all feel it now and subsequently we all have a choice to make. I am afraid of what is to come but I am determined not to run and hide. If it comes down to a fight I will squint my eyes, wait for the surge of adrenaline and then choose to go forward into battle for change. History does not repeat itself but if you listen carefully to the silence in our empty streets you will begin to hear it rhyme.