Sam Heath - samheath's Blog

Sam Heath - samheath's Blog - Bakersfield.com http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/samheath General Interest and Speculation General Interest and Speculation en-us The Weedpatch Gazette http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/samheath/33136 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/samheath/33136 A column I wrote a few years ago comparing politicians to used car and real estate salesmen provoked an acquaintance in the R/E business to call me and complain. During the conversation I commented about agreeing to disagree, but she would have none of it and hung up on me. There are some points where people dig in their heels and agreeing to disagree is off the table. This is the situation surrounding Governor Palin; her suddenly being thrust into the limelight is, to say the least, polarizing. And much in the way of Val Kilmer in Tombstone saying to the fellow who was insulting him “Does this mean we’re not friends anymore?” some friendships are being strained over her candidacy. Many years ago while playing and singing in some of the honky tonks I quickly learned the wisdom of the three subjects you do not discuss in bars: Religion, politics, and the Civil War. That was good advice then, and it remains good advice in the bars. After all, the topics are generally women/men “are no damned good” and usually suffice to pass the time in liquid camaraderie. But my not being a drinker I was always able to keep a clear mind while listening to many of the stories from others, especially women, and some of these eventually found their way into my book Birds With Broken Wings. Assuming none of the candidates is assassinated, a sober possibility, at least no one can say this election cycle is boring. Some of the speeches yes, but not what is swirling around the candidates themselves. Personally I wish politicians were still making speeches to the sound of cocking pistols in their audiences, but now they are surrounded by armed guards everywhere and packing heat to listen to any of them seems to be off the table also. Of all the political films my favorite remains Gore Vidal’s Lincoln with Mary Tyler Moore and Sam Waterston. The film so accurately portrayed the shenanigans of politics it should be required viewing for college students, though I maintain Lincoln’s War was an unnecessary attempt at national suicide and the seeds of America’s destruction had already been sown in slavery, a problem the war did not resolve and has only been exacerbated by the institution of a Federal Triune Dictatorship with its welfare and wage slavery. While I am encouraged and applaud Governor Palin’s sudden appearance and maintain it was the wisest choice McCain could have made I have no illusions about making any substantive changes in the way our government operates no matter who is in the White House. The specifics of our nation having been betrayed and our being plunged trillions of dollars into debt defy any politician addressing the solutions to our problems. The specifics would have to address the fact that heritage, culture, a common language and secure borders are the only hope of saving America; and just how would these be accomplished? Even with McCain/Palin in the White House, short of cataclysmic events overtaking America demanding the needed Draconian solutions to our problems there is little hope of any substantive action being taken to save America. From a Biblical perspective I continue to view our nation as the Great City Babylon of Revelation. Governor Palin certainly is a refreshing change from the usual way of politics in America, and I’m encouraged by her candidacy. But I’m not naïve to what is actually needed to do the things necessary to move our nation off the path to destruction the Devil’s crowd has already paved for America. For nearly four years I was totally absorbed in the writing of the autobiographical novel Donnie and Jean, an angel’s story about two twelve year old children growing up in Bakersfield during the 40s. I became a virtual recluse during those four years, seldom going anywhere except the post office and grocery store. Then there was three years writing Bird With Broken Wings. Writers are generally absorbed in their projects and content to be alone with only their thoughts for company. But my critique of To Kill A Mockingbird was a curious undertaking, and during the two years of writing that the occasional visitor would ask why I would do such a thing? But I had no ready answer to the question until I came to realize Harper Lee had written so much better than she knew in creating her literary masterpiece, and by the time she did realize this there was the need to withdraw and take time to understand it. What I came to understand was more than a book becoming a friend, some books do become such to some people and TKM became such a book for me. But more than that I came to understand Harper Lee had actually written the Novel of the Century before it even gained this distinction in literary circles. As such it deserved a very special place demanding great attention be paid to it. But I was also becoming aware that America was increasingly an ignorant and illiterate nation, an increasingly ill-mannered and violent nation, that the great literature of America was being traded for tawdry trash aided by TV unable to stem the tide of ignorance and illiteracy. There is a question of just what responsibility the individual has for choices, and does God hold us totally responsible for the choices we make? I don’t question divine intervention in the affairs of humankind, I do believe this happens. But when it comes to the matter of individual choices I struggle with this concept. I do know I can choose my friends, I can choose what to read or what films or TV programs to watch, and in making such choices I know whatever I feed my mind has a lot to do with the kind of person I am and the way I think. A great work of literature such as TKM demands a distinct kind of attention being paid to it, the kind of attention that requires thoughtful analysis of the details that make such a book a truly great work of literature. For some of us it goes beyond that, it causes us to continue to make reference to it in our own thoughts and writing, in our conversing with others. The actual points of reference demanded by TKM remind me of the closing scene in the film The Wind and the Lion where Sean Connery asks the fellow “Isn’t there one thing in your life worth losing everything for?” We never know when something may come up that will so absorb our attention all else falls to the wayside; in its way it is not unlike falling in love when the object of our affection causes all else to pale to near insignificance. But an idea, ideals can have the same effect. The real loss in America is the lack of hope for a future; but a future is dependent on ideas and ideals that inspire hope; and when people fill their minds with those things that do not contribute to ideas and ideals and forsake those things that would contribute to making good choices in their lives there is nothing left but an empty void people attempt to fill by the things that will only perish in the using. To be sincere in our convictions is an admirable thing so long as these contribute to a healthy mind. But when such sincerity becomes grotesque it is invariably due to holding the wrong convictions, and this is often due to not separating what we believe from what we know. There are certain things I believe but I’m not certain about my own ignorance because there are too many things I do not know, and like Leo Stein I question the wisdom of others because I question my own. I do find wisdom in some Scriptures, in others like Emerson and Harper Lee, but the best of such wisdom comes from the admission of their questioning their own wisdom, their questioning their own motives in coming at their own beliefs. And just who you choose as your authorities on any particular subject, about your beliefs tells others much about you.