Rose Colored Glasses

“We’ve been asked to pause for a reality check. We’ve been warned

against offering the people of this nation false hope. But in the

unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false

about hope.”

 

Barack Obama

 

 

 

“They denied that wishes were horses,

they denied that a pig had wings;

So we worshipped the Gods of the Market,

who promised these beautiful things.”

 

Rudyard Kipling, The Gods of the Copybook Headings

 

 

 

 

Toward the beginning of the last century Kipling penned the poem I’ve excerpted above as an opine to mankind’s eternal inclination toward disdain for the harsh truths of reality, in favor of the welcome seduction by those of the silver tongues who would sell us the false hope we so crave. Kipling’s dichotomy was set between “The Gods of the Copybook Headings” and “The Gods of the Marketplace”. To give this meaning, the reader needs to understand that copybook headings were proverbs of timeless truths that were set at the top of a page of a student’s workbook which they were to copy to work on penmanship. Such long held wisdom as “If you don’t work, you die”, and “If wishes were horses then beggars would ride” were beginning to seem trite and unduly harsh to many at the dawn of the roaring twenties, and as at so many times through the arc of history, mankind longed for more comfortable gods, gods that would sell them the things they longed to hear, “The Gods of the Marketplace”.

We find ourselves at a similar place, as we replace truth with what some would prefer truth to be. Instead of being pitied for being delusional, such confused people are lauded for being visionary. A man is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize based solely on rhetoric, another man is awarded for identifying himself as a woman. Terrorism is given an endless litany of innocuous pseudonyms as though renaming it makes it “not terrorism”. We belittle dangerous enemies by referencing them as “j.v.”, and pretend that saying we have them contained is the same as actually having contained them. We go so far as to alter intelligence reports to change the reality of a situation to more closely resemble the spin we have applied to that situation. In our everyday lives the idea of working hard and succeeding is being replaced with the concept that we can live acceptably well without working. The American Dream has become a fantasy of winning the lottery, or a lawsuit; as though life were a gameshow where we are bound to be the next contestant to “come on down!!”.

“The trouble with most of us is that we would rather

be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.”

 

Norman Vincent Peale

 

Even the original positive thinker, Norman Vincent Peale, recognized that there is a danger in not being willing to hear or speak anything but positive words. The magic of positive thinking lies not in fearing an admission of reality, but in being undaunted by it. When we truly believe in ourselves and our ultimate destiny, we face the possibilities of failures, defeats, and disappointments, with the understanding that life is indeed a struggle, but we are strong; that as individuals and as a nation we have powerful enemies, but we are equal to their terror. Today our leaders and our teachers promise us only beautiful things. Our ministers no longer speak of the uncomfortable truths of a God centered reality, but instead speak the promises of the happy gospel where we are never saddened, disappointed or grieved as we take up our preferred place at the center of our universe. The mention of sin is taboo, as rather than serving to spark the conscience of society, our churches, temples and mosques cower before it, and adjust their theology to accommodate its decadence. Politicians treat us like little Anthony Fremont from The Twilight Zone, the six year old so monstrous and powerful that no one dared to say negative words or even think negative thoughts in his presence. They fear if they tell us the truth we will turn them into a jack in the box and wish them into the cornfield. But we are not monsters, and we are not six year olds; “honesty is the best policy”.

IMHO: Our elitest leaders assume the posture of Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men, insisting “You can’t handle the truth!” as they justify their mangling of reality to make it more palatable to the general public, spinning the truth to keep the masses from stampeding; all the while seeing their dishonesty as beneficence, and their arrogance as sophistication. It is that very obfuscation of the truth that prevents our society from serving as a conscience for these men and women who appear to have none of their own. That Kipling struggled with this darkness a century ago, and that he acknowledged its presence in ages past, shows that this is part of the unchanging nature of man, but that it is also something our better angels can withstand, and it need not spell our doom. Reality has a way of eventually shining through, and lies always have a shelf-life. Seeing the world through rose colored glasses doesn’t change anything except in our imagination. Soaring superlatives assuring us of safety and security can comfort us in the short term, but ultimately we grow up to realize that the world is a dangerous and difficult place, and lies, empty promises, and false hope are poor substitutes for courage, wisdom and strength.

“Then the Gods of the Market tumbled,

and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew,

And the hearts of the meanest were humbled,

and began to believe it was true

That all is not gold that glitters,

and two and two make four,

And the Gods of the Copybook Headings

limped up to explain it once more…”