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Getting in the Way
NMB, Florida September 22, 2001 A.H. Schectman
THINKING ALLOWED
Essays on Issues, Ideas and Reflections on the Times. Published Now and
Then. Opinions Pro or Con Are Welcome.
GETTING IN THE WAY
Innocent bystanders often are ones hurt most when grandiloquent gestures
are made when men attempt to castrate each other. If you think of obelisks,
pillars and towers as phallic symbols, the iconoclasts of old and those in
the present have had plenty of opportunities to topple them. It is the
bystanders who were not in the picture at all who happened to be there at
the crucial moment, got in the way - and they were toppled too.
When my junior and senior high school students were full of themselves,
they often had at each other to see who was stronger, who could best the
other and who could win in a contest of strength. They wanted to show the
world whose anger was hotter and meanness was worst. The peace-keeper was
the one who most often got hit in the head and was pummeled down to the
ground. He was ignored by the wildness inhabiting the hearts, minds and
bodies of the contestants and their supporters.
As I remember, those violent flare-ups were over in minutes leaving
bloodied heads and elevated heart beats in their wake. Most of these
miniature wars simmered below the surface for months and were cherished as
tales told years later.
But the bystanders got in the way and were "collateral" numbers in the body
counts at the end. Nothing was ever settled. The bleeding was stanched,
bruises disappeared and the resentments and outrage dimmed a bit over time.
But the kids never outgrew their need for the contest to be the determinant
of right and the right way to "get even." They did not nor ever will grow
up.
We by-standers always get hit upside the head or trampled under foot. It is
a signature of youth who do not have the memories of war and destruction and
do have the certitude of their ability to flex their muscles and prove that
might makes right.
Carol's Evaluation: 9 out of 10.
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