How Far We Have Come
Friday I went to the opening night of my daughter’s high school play. They were performing The Crucible, Arthur Miller’s brilliant play about the witchcraft hysteria of 1692 in Massachusetts colony. There she was in the opening prologue, dancing and singing with friends in the woods like any good Pagan child. There she was a few scenes later in court, hysterically accusing innocent villagers of witchcraft. It was a very good performance, and I felt really proud of Jojo, but the play was extremely hard to watch. There was a knot in my stomach the entire time, and I had to coach myself to keep sitting there and not bolt the theater. Drama mothers do not puke during their daughters’ plays.
It was very moving to watch them wholeheartedly portray such intense figures of fear and hatred, these children of über-tolerant Sebastopol. On the bulletin board outside the theater was an article about the African children scapegoated, beaten, tortured, and driven from their homes because of claims they were “witches.” Obviously the drama class had made the connection between the Salem hysteria, the McCarthy era witchhunts during which Miller wrote his play, and the current plight of children in several African countries where fearmongering in the name of God still leads to cruelty and violence against innocents.
I know these kids saw the play in part as an act of resistance against the ignorance which causes such atrocities to happen. And yet, I kept thinking about Sarah Palin palling around with Reverend Thomas Muthee. The sick feeling in the pit of my stomach was knowing that even today in this country, we came that close. That close. Thanks to John McCain’s VP choice and their unforgivable campaign tactics, we were one election away from The Handmaid’s Tale. In my lifetime. I still can’t quite believe it.
There is a sort of conceit in education, an agreed-upon rule, that you teach children history from the perspective that things are better now. Civil rights? Nobody is getting sprayed with firehoses anymore; we are making progress. Environmental education? Let’s raise money to help save the rainforest. It all has a positive spin on it, and for good reason. You don’t want kids to despair. You want them to understand where we are and where we came from, but at the same time feel like their lives matter, that they can make a difference.
The day after opening night, though, I had to break the rule. I had to be honest with Jojo about why I might not be able to see another night’s performance. All those things she’s read and learned about theocracy in the Massachusetts colony years ago? It is just by a hair’s breadth that we do not go there right now. Those tears we all shed on election night? It wasn’t only because we had finally overcome a huge racial milestone in this country. It was because, were it not for Obama’s brilliant campaign machine, things would now be getting much, much worse. The future, it turns out, is too close to call.
November 20th, 2008 at 11:17 am
You captured my sentiments exactly. And that is why I cried tears, tears of joy yes, but mostly tears of relief.
November 21st, 2008 at 12:20 am
I agree. When Palin got picked and went up in popularity for the GOP, I became afraid that things would get worse. It was hard to explain to my daughter what fears I had and why those fears were there in the first place.
She seemed to understand at the time and in out house we all cried when Obama was announced as the new president elect.
Scary part is, Palin’s thinking of running in 2012.
November 26th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
This is a gorgeous, heartfelt, smart post. Thanks for putting these thoughts together.