In the past three years, my born-again right-wing neighbor has gotten married and had two kids, a boy and a girl. He has a cozy little house on a quiet cul-de-sac, a meek, stay-at-home mom for his kids, a well-paying job and his health.
Still, he is not happy.
My neighbor has been on the warpath lately because he insists that my compost pile is encroaching a few inches onto his property. He has even gone to the town hall to secure the original town plot maps, and made a photocopy for me to make his point. He has lived next door for eight years; the compost pile has never bothered him prior to this. It's clear I will have to move my compost pile to placate his bizarre anal fixation.
In explaining my "need" to move the pile, my neighbor was saying things like, "I've got a lot of anger in me, Alan," and "The world is in such a mess these days." This was too much information, of course, but I was glad to have it because it speaks to the underlying pathology of the conservative white middle-class suburban male: anger. It's there, even among the born-again-ers. Nothing meek or Christlike about it either.
The reason I bring up my neighbor is that his personality has changed now that he has kids. Though he was a right-winger and born-again-er prior to this, he was at least congenial. We even made sport of his having voted for George W. Bush twice and my being a "pinko liberal." So the anger that he recently confessed to having about the world and my compost pile has been well masked behind a genial exterior.
I would like to think—and this is giving my neighbor credit, not slamming him—some of that anger stems from guilt over his political choices. I would like to think that he understands where eight years of stupid has gotten us, eight years of misleading the nation into a war that has killed thousands and made permanent cripples of tens of thousands more, most of them children (the median age in Iraq is 18).
Yes—this pointless war has made victims of so many thousands of children as beautiful and loved as his two kids. Thus the consequences of his political choices are so obvious that he can't possibly miss them if occasionally he chances to watch the nightly news, pick up a paper or listen to the water fountain scuttlebutt at his place of employment.
I was caught up short today, thinking about my neighbor, his kids and kids in Iraq. Rob Tyrka, the progressive voice at WWUH (91.3, www.wwuh.org), called to tell me his guest this coming week will be Ann Cothran from No More Victims, a group that advocates for Iraqi children who have been wounded or maimed.
The interview will be broadcast Thursday, May 29, from noon to 12:30. It promises to be an emotional and enlightening broadcast. Cothran, who lives in South Carolina, told Tyrka about a recent visit to a beauty parlor during which a woman told her, "I didn't even know there were children in Iraq."
Not every American (let us pray) is as uninformed as this woman. In fact, Cothran offers some glimmers of hope in that regard. She's noticed that when kids are involved with an issue, ideologies are defused. Right-wingers are just as capable of being moved by the sight of maimed and wounded children as left-wingers. Indeed, I defy anyone, regardless of whether you, like my neighbor, think of me as a liberal pinko, to go on their site (www.nomorevictims.org) or the kindred-spirited http://fathersdayforpeace.org and not have to wipe away a tear or two.
Since this is not intended as a pity party, when you're through wiping your eyes, toss a bit of money their way. You can do without cigarettes or beer for a day or two. These kids will have to do without limbs for the rest of their lives.
