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July 12, 2004 High school. Senior year. Now is the time when I get to feel sagely in my old age and reflect on this twisted, strange path I have walked. But I must remember this is not unique; many have walked the same path before. High school is the only time in your life when you are absolutely sure you know everything. Anything anyone tells you, be it in life or in love, is unneeded advice. You arein, in short, and for the last time in your life, undeniably a God. Then, for some, a new horizon is discovered, where we are forced to admit that we do not know everything. For some it is adulthood. For others: politics. Some people, at this threshold in life, will admit they do not know the fine mechanical harmonies of economics and counter- intelligence, war and diplomacy, international relations and power. But some just keep on knowing everything, and it makes life difficult for the rest of us. The share of liberal and conservative ideologues, footsoldiers of their political party or system or antisystem, is about evenly split here. Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Christians, Muslims, Communists, Fascists, all knowing they have the right answers to life's questions. All of them knowing everyone else is wrong. People like this, people who do not grow out of this youthful arrogance of feeling the knowledge of the cosmos rests in their hands, are easy to pick out. Jesse Jackson, Pat Robertson, Ann Coulter; all of them believe the only correct path is that which they have chosen, and that which they desire all men to follow. The other path will surely lead to ruin. Every day, Coulter or Robertson or Jackson will give new talking points to their sea of footsoldier ideologues. The message is then passed on endlessly via this wonderful Internet: if you are not Christian, prepare to enter Hell. If you are not a Republican, you are supporting the terrorists. If you are a Republican, you do not support the equality of the black man. So on, so on, so on. The reality is somewhere in the uninteresting middle, a thousand shades of gray. But that doesn't make for good television, or televangelizing. There is truth beyond what party or religious ideology says. Every day we are force fed through the television and newspaper and internet the raw beliefs of Ted Kennedy, George Bush, John Ashcroft, Robert Novak, Paul Begala and so many, many more. One side is not flawless or perfect. Decent change only exists when there is a compromise between all points of view. Theodore Roosevelt saw this, Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan saw this, but Hitler, Stalin, dare I even say hard-line Christian fundamentalists and Islamic militans, do not see this. The arrogance of thinking one party or ideology holds all the answers has brought this world to war repeatedly. Why, then, do we prolong its growth and life? Why do we not simply graduate? ------------ About the author: Max Burns lives in Indianapolis and interns with the Indiana Democratic Party. Visit The Rabid Demoncrat or read the fantasy-fiction novel "Alcardia". He is currently a senior at Lawrence North High School and is active in political clubs and associations. Max thinks it's time to hatch a real environmental policy and plant George W. Bush back in Crawford. Email: MBurns_NS@hotmail.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
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