The Calendar Says "October"

The leaves are starting to turn...the night air is cool, and though the daytime sun is still warm, it lacks the vigor of summer. No doubt about it, just a few pages are left on the calendar, until the end of the year and it got me to thinking....just as we near the end of the year, I wonder, where are we on the ‘calendar of our nation’? Near the end? Just getting started? Are we truly still in an unending state of “Morning in America”?

Surely if a politician suggested otherwise, his or her career would be over. No one can openly admit that perhaps America’s best days are behind us. But it still seems worth considering. Was the 20th century the American century? If so, do we get two centuries?...in a row? And if this is not our century, whose is it?, and what does that mean for us? American’s have a name for second place.....losers.

Ronald Reagan told us, with enough assurance that we believed him, that our best days were yet to come. As the 20th century wound down, we had successfully fought two world wars, and our economy was the envy, if not the engine, of the world. We were riding a pretty good winning streak. Sure there had been stumbles. Vietnam was surely not our finest hour, and then there was Nixon, and Agnew, and Kent State. But there was also Apollo, the Beach Boys and Willie Mays. It was pretty bold to predict that even better days lie ahead.

And yet, to say otherwise implies...what? Decline? Tough times? The end of US dominance in the world economy and as the only remaining superpower....shudder the thought! Even writing the words raises the hair on the back of my neck. Nope, we Americans will accept only top billing...but I wonder what happens when the rest of the world no longer sees us that way....self delusion can only last so long. What was Reagan saying when he said our best days were in front of us? Perhaps he meant the Clinton Administration....those were pretty good days until the whole “bang the intern” thing got rolling...and even while we considered semen stained dresses and the meaning of the word “the” , the economy was good, our stature in the world was never better, and we were number one...no one argued with that! And besides...the bad stuff all had to do with consenting adults having sex...how bad is that, really?

I wonder where we are today, on the calendar of our nation. Surely we are well past January. If we consider Reagan’s Morning in America; I guess we were all sipping our national cup of coffee (Starbucks one can only assume) and still anticipating the warmth of the sunny days ahead....it must have been about February or March, and clearly the calendar had many pages left on it. So, where are we now?

Clearly, the Clinton days felt like spring. Sex was everywhere....from the White House to the home front! I was a father for the first and second time. Everything seemed to have a fresh coat of paint. Cars were new and shiny, and clearly a drive in a convertible was not out of the question. We were like a nation of colts, finally gaining control of our long, strong legs. We were magnificent. I’d guess it was April in America

Where are we now? Do we feel magnificent? What has the Bush Administration left us with other than a bunch of pages ripped hastily from the calendar to go along with all the bills scattered about and left for us to pay. Is that what the last 8 years have been? An accelerated aging that robbed us of the sweetness of summer...the cold lemonade enjoyed under a bounteous apple tree. Did we somehow trade in what could have been the glorious days and warm summer nights of May and June, for the bitter-sweetness of August and September. We never bothered to go skinny dipping in the pond or run naked through the woods with our friends. Instead we covered our bodies ashamedly as we aged, and wrinkled and instead of fireworks on the 4th of July, we got missiles and bombs over Baghdad. Instead of laying beside a pool, we hide our skin from the sun, fearful that the broken down ozone layer would not protect us from the cancerous rays...we lie awake fearful of enemies both real and imagined....We long for morning, but we know the nights are getting longer.

Now we await the harvest of the seeds planted over the last few years. Will the harvest be bountiful? Will we have enough food to eat? Will there be any left over to share with those less fortunate? Could we use some of the crop to trade with others to get supplies we might need. It seems uncertain just now. It just seems that there are only a page or two left on the calendar, and that seems pretty scary.

The chill in the air...could it really be just the last shiver as spring yields to summer, or is it perhaps the warning of winter oncoming?