Found myself in an awkward spot today, needing to be in the state capital at about the same time as President Obama. He’s out speaking at a historically-Black college and church about the civil rights movement. I’ve just got ordinary places to be. The difficulty is the traffic. Small city, not a lot of roads to choose from, and he gets priority. The rest of us get to be late.
I care tremendously about the civil rights movement. I don’t care a bit about our president (beyond a generic concern for the good of all human souls). Don’t care for his politics, don’t care for his record on human rights. Like most people I know, I’m utterly indifferent that he’s visiting my part of the world. Pretty much the atmosphere in the circles I travel in consists of this: Sheesh would the man leave us alone and go somewhere else?
This is why I care about civil rights: Because I can be irritated that I’ll probably be late for an appointment, and I can tell the entire world that I just don’t care one whit about our dear leader, and I can get away with it.
***
Next month I go up to Arlington Cemetery for a funeral: Ordinary life will go on hold, people will get to be inconvenienced by the absence of me and my family. So be it. The men and women interred in our national cemeteries have sacrificed for our right to be utterly, publicly indifferent to our appalling leadership. I’ll gladly sit in traffic for days in order to pay tribute.
Artwork: William Harnett, Still Life with Letter [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
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