Anchors away!

I must confess, I'm a science fiction/fantasy fanatic. Not so much as I used to be. Back when I was a teenager I could give a synopsis of just about every Star Trek episode ever made. Not all the new ones Hollywood keeps cranking out, but the original series. "To BOLDLY GO WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE!" That was a great show. My favorite character was the Starship Enterprise itself. The technology, the wonders, beaming from planet to planet, shooting through the universe, both known and unknown at warp speed. Probably my favorite episode was written by Harlan Elision. Its called "City on the Edge of Forever". In it, Kirk and Spock go back in time to depression era earth to find Bones, who had time traveled and somehow managed to change the course of history which caused the Federation to never have existed. Time travel. What a concept.

I guess you could say I'm a fan of Sci-Fi that deals with time travel. I find the subject fascinating. For one thing, despite what the most brilliant minds of our time say, is it even possible? Does time actually exist or is it just a human invention to keep the trains moving on time? I mean, before the first human felt his stomach grumble and asked himself 'I wonder if its lunch time yet?' did time exist? Does time exist to trees? How about clouds? Does time mean anything to an ocean?

Actually, time does exist. I have perfected a method of time travel that I offer free to anyone who wishes to use it. All I ask is for 50% of what ever money they make off it. Want to know what it is? Go look in a mirror. You are looking into the past. It took a finite amount of time for the light to bounce off you, reach the mirror and then return to your eyes. Granted, the amount of time you can look back into is imperceptibly small, but its still seeing into the past. Now you know why I don't hold much hope of getting rich off it.

I tend to think of time as a river. Huge, moving, constantly in a state of flux. I imagine each of us, in our own little rafts, flowing with the current, bouncing off each other and rocks and such, from the moment we're born, to the moment we die. We can try and paddle our way along, try to fight the current, try to steer, but more or less we're at the mercy of it. Some of us tie our little rafts together to help on the journey - family, friends, religious communities. And it does indeed help.

I was watching a Sienfeld rerun the other day, and Jerry had a pretty comical - and insightful - observation. He posits that you can tell the year a male hit his stride because he stops changing. His sense of style is set for the rest of his life. First got lucky in the 1960's? You're wearing jeans, sneakers and tie-dye for the rest of your life. As I pondered his thought, I looked at what I was wearing, and I had to admit, he's right.

And that brings us to today's thought. Us, in our little rafts, bouncing on this river, and people tossing out anchors to moor themselves to a certain point in their journey. You know what I'm talking about, that one point in your life where you finally believe you are on top, you have it right, you understand everything, 'splash' goes the anchor. No more change.

We may think we have it all under control, all figured out, but we don't. We may think we're standing in one place, but we're not. Even though we appear still, time, life, and every one else is floating on by us. Constant change, constant flux. I've often thought one of life's biggest ironies is that as humans, we are surrounded by change. Yet we strive for stability, which we can never attain. In other words, the only thing constant in our lives (and constant, stable is what we search for) is change itself. The only thing we can take to the bank that is 100% rock solid guaranteed is nothing is 100% rock solid. Everything changes. We can try and fight it, we can ignore it, we can pretend we don't see it, but it changes. Trust me on this one.

A couple of weeks ago I was listening to an interview on NPR radio with Spike Lee. He's making a documentary in New Orleans about the storm and flooding, and its affects on the city's population. During the interview the subject of Louis Farrakhan came up and his outrageous contention that the federal government blew up the levees in order to scatter the poor African American Democrat voters around the nation, diluting their political voice. Spike Lee said he considered it a possibility, and for evidence he points to the Tuskegee Experiment. For those unfamiliar with this dark time in American history, white physicians decided to use poor African Americans as a control group in studying the long term effects of venereal diseases. In other words, they went to the Tuskegee Institute for medication for their diseases, and the white physicians gave them placebos, and then watched the disease progress over decades. A truly shameful event in America's history. We Americans must do everything we can, not only to compensate those who suffered, but revamp the entire medical profession so that nothing like this ever, ever, ever happens again to our fellow Americans.

When Spike Lee first mentioned he wouldn't count out a 'white' plot, I shook my head in disgust. When he mentioned Tuskegee, I had to admit, he had a point. It wasn't all that long ago that African Americans were oppressed in this country by law. It was before my time. I was just a little kid when the Civil Rights Act and the Voter Rights Act were passed. My Uncle married an African American woman, and they had several kids, who I grew up with. So to me, I've never understood the concept of racism. I can't fathom why someone would think someone else is a lesser human based on something as ridiculous as skin color. I just can't get my mind around it. I know it exists, and I've seen evidence of it myself. But my brain just doesn't work that way.

There was a time when it was more or less illegal to be black in America. That was a long time ago. But you wouldn't know it by listening to some of the Civil Rights activists on the democratic side of the aisle. To hear Rev. Al Sharpton, or Rev Jesse Jackson (where's the separation of Church and State when you need it?), and others, you would think blacks are still being lynched in the streets. Congressman Charlie Rangel of NYC says the President is "our Bull Conner." In case you don't know who Bull Conner is, he's probably one of the greatest (anti) heroes of the Civil Rights area. How could a white sheriff, bent on destroying the Civil Rights movement, be considered a hero? Because he was stupid enough to do it in front of news cameras. Footage of him siccing dogs on peaceful demonstrators and using high pressure fire hoses to disperse the crowds, flooded the TV screens of middle America. That one moment in time changed America forever. And for the better. Now I'm not exactly sure how one could compare those images to the current President and come up with anything. The current President has appointed African Americans to the highest positions of power in government they've ever attained. Yet, when its time to compare him, they reach back in time to one of the most despicable individuals in our history. Why?

The obvious answer is money. I attend a Roman Catholic Church, and I must say I've never seen any of our clergy wearing $1,000 Armani suits. But more importantly than their pay checks, why use that image? Why use any image at all? I contend it's because they are trying to appeal to people who've tossed out the anchor on their little rafts, back in the era of Civil Rights protests.

For those who toss their anchor out on the journey of life, nothing changes. They are locked into a certain view, a certain set of circumstances, and that never changes. For some, that means, despite all the obvious changes in America since the Tuskegee Experiments, we're still no further along with race relations. And let me state perfectly clear, this is not limited to African Americans, or to Civil Rights. I merely use that as an example since it was Spike Lee's comments that sparked this train of thought. For an even better example, look to Archie Bunker. Even though the world was marching right past Archie, he was stuck in the 1950's, where everything was coming his way. That's actually the premise of the comedy 'All In The Family.' The contrast - and resulting humor - of Archie facing a changing world, while refusing to budge.

Feel free to go to Google some time and do a search on 'Breasts Not Bombs.' I'd advise you to do it before lunch, as I'm sure these women were much better looking forty years ago. But time marches on, and gravity can not be repealed. It ain't pretty. For many people on the left, the war in Iraq is nothing more than a copy cat of Vietnam. They hit their stride during the protests of the 1960's and 70's, and that where they tossed their anchor. I caught about 15 or so Grateful Dead concerts back in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Talk about an example of people tossing their anchors. An entire army of tie-dyed shirts, bandanas, Birkenstocks, listening to the same songs over and over for 30 years. Not that I'm picking on them, I saw some great shows and met some wonderful people. But for the hardcore Dead Heads, it will be the 1960's and 1970's forever. And that means all the baggage that comes with it.

As for me, I can't say if anyone who's tossed an anchor is wrong, or that I'm right. That's for each individual to decide for themselves. For me, I've pulled my anchor back in and I'm going with the flow. That means accepting the fact that whatever I know to be absolutely true, could very well turn out to be absolutely wrong. It means accepting not only new ideas and concepts, but it means accepting that life will continue to change, and to be ready for it. I occasionally toss my anchor out once in a while, I just make a point to remember to pull it back in, and get on with life. An anchor can be a wonderful thing, it can give you some perspective, it can give you a chance to catch your breath, it can give you the opportunity to hold on to something for a little longer than we normally would. But it also can be a hindrance. It can prevent us from trying new things, from seeing old things in a new light. It can allow us to freeze our opinions, our knowledge, our ideas, and not even notice the Tuskegee Experiment is getting to be a long time ago. It can prevent us from realizing that most of those white physicians are probably long dead, and their children and grandchildren would never even think of doing such an heinous act. Life marches on, even if we choose not to march with it. It can prevent us from realizing how the world is changing, and where its headed. And that is not good.

As I said, I've pulled up my anchor. I've set sail. I've got a few small and a few large rafts that I've tied myself to. But I'm heading on down that river. There are good times ahead, just as there are bad ones. But I don't fear the bad anymore than I intend hold on to the good ones longer than I should. Sure there's storms down river. But they're sometimes followed by rainbows. As Bob Dylan once sang, he not busy being born is busy dying. Anchors away!