~a column by colleen O’Brien
Humans are endlessly entertaining – what we do, what we think, how we operate, what’s important –and what engages each of us variously. Me? I like watching us and writing about us, even the politics of us – too much of the politics, I fear.
Last week I wrote about the idiocy of politics and that so many of us are so engaged by the shenanigans of politicians. The thing to remember is that politics do form our lives, so we do need to pay attention. What we really need to do – what I need to do – is pay attention to what I need to know, vote for someone who thinks with the best of intentions, and get on with my life.
After all, I do pay these people to help me and my life and my community and my country because my job is not “politician” but watcher of politicians. We learned in Civics class that we had to know what was going on with representatives, and although we’re not paid for it, part of our responsibility as citizens is to be political in order to get them to do their job.
How do we go about it, keeping up our half of the democratic deal? We study them, we ask them questions, we tell on them, we spread our opinions, we protest, we stick up for them, we vote.
It has been said more times than we listen – Democracy is the most difficult form of government to maintain, and it is the only form of government that is built on social justice – helping all the people. Not the rich or just the rich; not the powerful, for, in my opinion, they undermine us all the time for their own good; not the evil, who some of us turn into once we’re elected.
It’s that human thing again – we are all capable of all things. Just think: You, too, could become a politician running on your noble character and social justice education and turn into a greedy representative for yourself rather than for your voters. This thought alone should be humbling. But of course, being human, we seldom think of ourselves as greedy in any way. Even if we turn into manipulative cheats.
The only thing I’ve relied on to keep my greedy, power-hungry side of humanness in check is remembering that having a sense of humor helps. A sense of humor means I can laugh at myself. It’s delightful when I realize I can do this.
Having a sense of wit is good too, but wit has no conscience. When I am witty I am quite proud of myself but too often with a hangover of shame for having been a smartass at someone else’s expense.
It is humor that lasts forever in oneself and one’s family, friends and acquaintances – simply being well-intentioned; laughing; giving others, even politicians, a break. No matter what I may think of certain examples of pols, they, like us, may have a good side. And, like us, they too are born, not hatched.
