Friday - August 26, 2005

Cindy’s Brain

am trying to put myself inside Cindy Sheehan’s brain. She thinks I (and others) are “right-wing nut jobs”. I know this to be untrue because I am conservative but not far out on the “right wing” and I’ve never been diagnosed with a mental condition of any kind, other than a brief period of depression after my mother’s death in 1991. Plus, I have a regular job so I don’t need to be any kind of “job”. I work hard, collect my paycheck and pay my bills. Nothing extraordinary about any of that. In short, I’m just your everyday average “joe” .... except my name isn’t Joe.

But back to the subject of Cindy’s brain. Upon close examination, we perceive a large block or enflamed brain matter in the frontal lobes. This section is called “grief” and is enlarged at the moment. There are large supplies of blood being forced into this section as this part of the overall brain matter is experiencing enormous pain and inflammation caused by the loss of a loved one, her son. The boy she raised from birth is dead. He lost his life on a lonely battlefield, several thousand miles away from her and she feels a deep loss in her life. The little boy she taught, groomed and loved from baby to man is no longer in this world.

There is nothing she can do to replace this gaping hole in her life and her brain is suffering from the problem of not knowing how to fill that hole. There does not appear to be anything that means as much to her as her son did. She has further exacerbated the loss by alienating herself from her husband, who has filed for divorce. I don’t claim to know the reasons for the breakup. All the public knows is that the divorce was filed by her husband because of “irreconcilable differences”, according to the official divorce petition.

The hole in her life just grows biggger and bigger and the grief section of Cindy’s brain continues to grow and grow until it overwhelms the entire brain, blocking out all else. Cindy is awash in the pain inside and her brain is starting to malfunction. This malfunction is easily evidenced by her persistent vigil in Crawford, Texas insisting on a meeting with the President Of The United States, who has already met with her and tried to console her once before. Why this insistence on meeting the leader of the free world again? What can she tell him that he doesn’t already know? Does she not understand that he is privy to knowledge about world politics and the security of America that she has no access to? What can she possibly add to his already overloaded (but not yet malfunctioning) brain that would help anyone?

When President Bush refused to interrupt his vacation and meet with her, she found a national audience in the media, which had nothing better to report on this month and who have shown a pronounced bias against the President in the past. Cindy’s brain now had a platform from which she could share the pain in her head with everyone. Grief is always a lonely thing and any individual’s first response to grief is to share it. That is just human nature.

Unfortunately, something happened then that made this a problem for every American: Cindy’s brain was joined by several hundred other malfunctioning brains which have been in severe pain and grief since November 7, 2000 when George Bush won the Presidency. Suddenly, Cindy had a whole bunch of new friends and Cindy’s brain had other similarly malfunctioning brains to commiserate with.

Like them, she has adopted their strident, vulgar accusations and language. She called Presdient Bush a “lying bastard” and a “filth-spewer and warmonger.” Further quotes include: “and if you think I won’t say bullshit to the President, I say move on, cuz I’ll say what’s on my mind.” and “It’s okay for Israel to occupy Palestine, but it’s - yeah - and it’s okay for Iraq to occupy - I mean, for the United States to occupy Iraq, but it’s not okay for Syria to be in Lebanon. They’re a bunch of fucking hypocrites!”

And the beat goes on. Drums keep a-pounding rhythm in her brain.

This morning I read that Cindy has returned to her vigil in Crawford and the camp is now swollen with leftist, anti-war activists, most of whom have their travel expenses paid for by organizations like MoveOn.org which were organized after the 2000 election to try to drive George Bush from office and over-rule the American people’s decision in that election. The camp now has caterers, medical facilities and even an “orientation tent”. That last sounds pretty ominous to me. Do these people with malfunctioning brains really need “orientation” or is some evil force trying to take advantage of these malfunctioning brains, while they are in a weak state, to bend them to some unknown purpose?

Things at the camp are starting to settle into a pattern now, it seems. According to the post from Cindy, last night the campers were treated to a concert by none other than Joan Baez, who was kind enough to sing “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”.

When I arrived at Camp Casey II this afternoon I was amazed at what has changed since I was gone. Now, we have a huge tent to get out of the sun; caterers; an orientation tent; a medic tent (with medics); a chapel, etc.

So, after Joan Baez gave us a great concert tonight, I got up and I talked about Casey. About the sweet boy who grew up to be a remarkable young man. Joan sang the song Joe Hill In it Joe Hill says: “I never died.” Well, looking out at the faces here at Camp Casey, and knowing that for everyone who is present here, there are thousands of others who support our work, I am convinced that Casey never died, and he never will. Joan also sang “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.” A thousand angels waiting there for me? I know Casey will be waiting for me when it is my turn, and I know when I finally get there he?’s going to hug me and say: “Good job, Mom.”

According to Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s 1970 book on death and dying, there are seven distinct stages of grief: (1) Shock or Disbelief that the loss has occured. (2) Denial is the stage in which the person refuses to accept the loss has occured. (3) In the Bargaining stage, the person attempts to reconcile the loss by making deals with other people, sometimes also with Diety. (4) Guilt is marked by statements of “if only I had done/been . . . “. (5) Anger is a natural stage everyone must pass. Anger may be directed toward the loss, the person lost, or even Diety. (6) Depression is a stage that comes and goes throughout the grief process. Resignation at the end of the depression indicates that the truth of the loss has been accepted and the person is ready to move on. (7) Acceptance and Hope means that you understand your life will never be the same but it will go on with meaning and hope.

I empathize with Cindy Sheehan over her loss but sooner or later, she and her brain are going to have to get through Stage 5. The new friends she has found are hopelessly locked in Stage 5 as are their friends in the Democratic Party and Hollywood and the mainstream media. They must all be willing to accept their loss and resign themselves to the fact that they need to move on. Only then can all these malfunctioning brains even begin to reach acceptance and the hope that things will get better for all of them.

If not, then the rest of America will eventually have to deal with the problem of all of these malfunctioning brains in a way that brings them through their grief and back into the society of normal human beings. That may be the hardest task any of us “right-wing nut jobs” may ever face.

Disclaimer: No, I’m not a psychiatrist .... but I play one in the Blogosphere.

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/26/2005 at 11:33 AM   
Filed Under: • Editorials •  
• Comments (16) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

DISCLAIMER

THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.

Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.

Copyright © 2004-2015 Domain Owner