Father Figures

08/11/2005

FATHER FIGURES

If history is the stories of our past and future is but a result of our actions of today, then it follows that we can write a history of our future based upon the actions we are taking today and the history of the results produced by similar actions in the past.

In 1979 there was a revolution in Iran, the shah was thrown out of the country literally, and replaced by a mullah that called himself ayatollah al-Khomeini. It was not only a political revolution but also a religious one, where a secular kingdom was replaced by an Islamic regime. And of course after the abuse at the hands of the shah a mullah would cut a fatherly figure. Those stupid backwards rag heads had done it again, then to top it all off they took fifty-two of our embassy workers hostage. The Muslims figured that after letting Viet Nam go we had no stomach for another war.

Is that the story you read in the history books?

Can we therefore say that in 1980, being tired of the hippy (secular) influence and the loss of face in Vietnam, the desert one and the indignity of having 52 of our citizens being held hostage, the United States of America had her own religious revolution and elected Reagan as their president because he too cut a fatherly figure and was backed by the Christian right and the Moral Majority. And again in 2000 we elected George Bush not because he was the most qualified per se but that he professed to and played up his Christian beliefs. Must be the human nature , we are so hung up on father figures, that we call God our father and even want to elect Giuliani as a president or something.

In the aggregate, fathers are a tricky lot to deal with. Are we not familiar with the story of the old man that was told by his Father to kill his own son and the father promptly took the young boy to the woods or some place to commit murder to please his own father? Did Khomeini not send young boys and girls in to the battle field to locate the land mines? Did Reagan not leave us with his tax cuts and the trillion dollar deficits to be paid by the future generations of our children, and started us on the path to NAFTA and GATT. Oh how soon we forget.

(M.N.R)