Disrespecting Elders

I woke up this morning to a short commentary by Rush Limbaugh in which he railed against Jimmy Carter, calling him a "national hemorrhoid.” In addition to being patently vulgar, Limbaugh once again ventured into one of his favorite realms: the ad hominem argument against the person and not the person’s policies, which is a classic fallacy in logic.

Mr. Carter, since his remarks about racism and the populist uprisings of the so-called “tea-baggers,” has taken considerable verbal abuse. His conservative critics label him the worst president of the last century, usually contrasting him with Ronald Reagan who followed.

Yet Mr. Carter has been a successful activist ex-President, perhaps the most activist of the entire American experience. He has transformed his deep personal religious beliefs (Southern Baptist based) into activism such as Habitat for Humanity. And he has progressed into an ever broader world view. (For example, he recently spoke out against world-wide oppression of women, citing his own break with his church’s traditional views of women as subservient.) In 2002 he was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize.

Moreover, Mr. Carter has noteworthy personal achievements. He served as a naval officer. He is a bona fide entrepreneur/capitalist—a successful peanut farmer. He’s personally written more than 20 books on a variety of subjects. He’s continued to reside in his rural home town of Plains, Georgia. His long marriage is a partnership with wife Rosalyn.

In my estimation Jimmy Carter is principled and moral, thoughtful and progressive. He has become a wise elder. (One of his recent books ponders the possibilities of a life’s later years.) Indeed, he is one of the international Elders gathered by Nelson Mandela.

Then, why is Mr. Carter so denigrated by hectoring conservative talk radio personalities and their minions in and out of government?

It’s a national disgrace that Mr. Carter is disrespected as a person, considering his formidable personal achievements as well as status as ex-President.

But for me there’s something even more disrespectful in all of this: a lack of respect for elder wisdom. This strikes me as yet another example of an increasing ugliness in American society that is unacceptable.

As one venturing into the elder years, I say shame on Rush Limbaugh for his vulgarity relative to Jimmy Carter, one of our society’s and one of the world’s wise elders.

Enchanted Stardust

This image provided by NASA, released Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2009, taken by the refurbished Hubble Space Telescope, shows stars bursting to life in the chaotic Carina Nebula. (NASA photo / September 9, 2009)

In my estimation there is nothing more awe-inspiring, wonder-invoking than the images provided by the Hubble Space Telescope: "Out of the stars in their flight, out of the dust of eternity have we come...sunlight and stardust mingled in time and space..." (Robert Terry Weston, c. 1960.)

Long ago, Unitarian minister Theodore Parker (c. 1840) intuited that we are "enchanted stardust."

The origin and evolution of our 13.5 billion year old universe is a great ponderable, a wellspring of Natural Religion and infinite source of religious experience. The images of the Hubble Space Telescope are primary resources of a Religion of Realities.

Making Peace 40 Years Later

Noodling around my local Dollar Store, I found a book that haunts me, Last Night I Dreamed of Peace: The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram. In April 1968, when this diary began, Thuy was a 25 year old doctor in a North Vietnamese battle field hospital. In June 1970 the diary ends. Dr. Thuy was killed by a bullet to the forehead by South Vietnamese troops. (See the 2006 New York Times article for the remarkable story of The Diary and Dr. Thuy.)

Thuy's diary was surreptitiously saved (against general orders) by an American soldier who held on to it through 2005. Within a few months of resurfacing it was published in Vietnam and became an extraordinary best seller. It was subsequently translated and published in a 2007 American edition. Obviously its American press run exceeded demand, since I bought a remaindered first edition for a buck only 2 years after publication.

I hadn't heard Thuy Tram's poignant diary, which has been inevitably compared to Anne Frank's rescued words.

In my estimation there's no surprise that the Diary of Dang Thuy Tram languished in the American literary marketplace. It relates the Vietnam War from the perspective of the once-enemy. Perhaps, 40 years later, we don't want to remember. Or more likely we don't want to engage in the humbling process of truth and reconciliation, when we listen without argument and seek to empathize with those who'd been victimized.; and we do so for the sake of justice and peace.

I remember, once again, Santayana's counsel: "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it."