In a Peanuts cartoon (for which I can’t currently find a link), Charlie Brown speaks convincingly of the loss that comes with the realization that you will no longer be able to sleep in the back seat of your parents’ car, which was the purest distillation of Charles Schulz’s genius for convincingly putting profundity in the mouths of children. I’ve been thinking of that cartoon as I’ve helplessly watched the failure of our authorities to look after us. As I put it elsewhere:
I feel kind of like I did when I reached the point in my therapy when I realized that there was no authority I could go to who cared that I had a lousy childhood.
Michael Hiltzik at the Los Angeles Times seems to have reached the same conclusion:
George W. Bush is known for never admitting his mistakes. Consequently, he never learns from his mistakes. The chances are dismal that he will learn from this one. We’re on our own.
This is so painful in ways that aren’t easily named or addressed. I can’t imagine what it’s like for those who’ve directly suffered on the Gulf Coast.
For a more uplifting response to all of this, be sure to check this past Sunday’s edition of le Show (which is available by subscription as a Podcast).
morgannels 