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Volume 115, Number 73 - Tuesday, December 22, 1998
Just one wish for the holidays
by John Friedlander
The events of the past weekend saved us from another year-end wish list.
I'd prepared a list of several topics I feel are important for Middletown to pursue in the coming year. But the surreal goings-on in Washington have shifted my priorities. There are now just two things on my mind -- one very immediate and local, one more long-term and universal.
First, in righteous contrast to the unconscionable verbal violence being wielded in Washington DC these days, I'd like to see our city officials publicly praised when they do smart things that benefit us all.
Mayor Thornton, Police Chief Brymer and Public Works Director Fazzino deserve a round of applause. They changed their minds on the programming of the new traffic light system that had pedestrians sharing time with cars. Reportedly, lights at the intersection at Main and Washington Streets will be reprogrammed to stop all motor traffic while pedestrians cross.
I'm concerned that only reprogramming one intersection will be even more confusing than the total change that started this whole situation, but this is still a good start. Next on the list should be Main and William streets, where many elderly walkers cross to Pelton's, and Main and Union streets, where many children cross to the YMCA.
Please show your appreciation by sending these decision-makers a note of thanks. Here are their addresses:
Second, I'd like to echo and amplify the words of several retiring State Representatives in their speeches to the House during the impeachment hearings on Friday and Saturday.
A common note sounded by quite a few legislators from both sides of the aisle was to avoid the slash and burn politics we've grown far too familiar with, and to concentrate instead on working together and taking care of one another.
Despite all the decorously styled speech between the "distinguished gentlemen and gentle ladies" of the House, the barely concealed content of the vast majority of the debate was purely partisan, us-against-them competitive posturing and pontificating. Spreading self-righteous smarm as thick as butter on a fried Elvis and banana sandwich, our finest elected officials sought to bury each other in elegantly turned phrases. Most of the speeches seemed to spin a vortex of hot-button vituperation, without offering any substance that might help build consensus. The goals seemed merely to top the headlines in the home district.
It hardly matters what you believe about the mistakes President Clinton has made. What we see in Washington now is a putrid dungheap of floozies, hooded inquisitors, hyperbolic hypocrites and proud guardians of low standards. Our so-called leaders seem incapable of steering us toward a higher path. We are so fascinated by the failings of others that we have no time left to improve ourselves. Our nation is foundering on the shoals of scandalously invaded privacy, jealously defended pettiness and unachievably heroic expectations.
We are narcotized by tabloiditis. Every story must have a pathetic victim, a dastardly villain and a valiant hero. We scarcely comprehend stories of complex problems resolved over time by teams of agreeable colleagues working together. We are so used to right or wrong, black or white, east or west, Republican or Democrat that we hardly consider middle ground, or shades of gray.
Middletown must not go down this dark path.
My holiday wish this year and for all time is that we put away the notion that there can be only one right that we must fight to defend. That we break out of the shackles of division that keep us from embracing one another as brothers and sisters. That we put to rest the petty partisanship that pits neighbor against neighbor. That we dare to live the golden rule we were taught as children and that we too often ignore as adults -- to do unto others as we would have them do unto us.
Thankfully, Middletown is not a home to the towering egos and brightly lit marble stages that dazzle and defile our daily lives. Our smaller dramas don't draw the weight of attention that regularly crushes people and careers in Washington. Our heroes are more likely to help little old ladies cross the street than to solve social problems with the stroke of a lawmaker's pen. Our saviors are more likely to have replaced the batteries in our smoke detectors than to have flown into space.
When the great goods of our lives are as subtle as this, it may be easy to believe that our differences are greater than they are. We may be tempted to create drama by manufacturing antagonisms among local rivals to satisfy our tabloid and TV deadened taste buds.
Middletown need not create scandal to play host to heroes. We can instead create a hometown of harmony by reaching across party lines to face community challenges. We can remember that red blood flows beneath skins of every color. We can, as the retiring Representatives advised their colleagues, work together, and take care of one another.
This is my holiday wish.
May your celebrations be filled with joy and light.
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