Posted: 5/5/04

Whatís reality and what is not

We are four years into the new century and Iím coming to the conclusion that we, as a society, canít distinguish the difference from what is real and what isnít.

Recently, President Bush enlightened the public by proclaiming that the United States was no longer protected by its oceans. Really?

The generalization stated by President Bush is understandable.

After the attacks of 9/11 in 2001, it was made clear, shockingly clear, that no place in the world is safe from gutless thugs who will go to any measure to strike out at the American way of life and any American who happens to be in the wrong place at the right time.

That is reality, for sure.

While the presidentís theory is understandable, one can only wonder where he was during the power-charged days of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. The oceans that border this land were certainly no protection for several decades.

Many of us grew up in a time when we feared Russian missiles and bombers. At school we drilled on safety procedures in the event an attack would come from the sky and they werenít tornado drills. Civil Defense systems were a fabric of our society in almost every town in this country as we prepared for the worst and hoped for the best.

We got the latter, of course, with the crumbling of communism in many parts of the world. The major changes that took place in the Soviet Union have led to a new world feeling.

Perhaps it would have been better to live in a society where people were more on guard? Itís a difficult question to answer for today we have what we have.

Today our nation is still deeply engaged in war in Iraq. In April alone more than 125 military personnel were killed. Iím not sure if the American public as a whole has come to accept the reality of what is going on in Southwest Asia.

Not having lived through the days of World War II, I can only imagine what it was like here in the 1940s. It was a much different war to be sure and a war on a world stage.

But it is hard to believe the public was as nonchalant then as the public is today. Today it seems that many in our society are giving the events in Iraq, and in Afghanistan to a lesser degree, just a passing glance. Many check the news, roll their eyes a bit when more American deaths are reported and move on to the next thing in their lives.

We see it so clearly in the television programming that comes into our homes every day.

Todayís flood of so-called ìrealityî shows is a new wave that the American public seemingly canít get enough of. The ratings says as much. But isnít it ironic that so many Americans today are immersed in ìrealityî shows when something far more real and far more deadly is happening a world away?

It is reality when three sisters from a small town in Wisconsin go off to serve their country in Iraq and see one of the three struck down by the enemy.

It is not reality to see a bevy of ìmodelsî fighting for their lives and prize money in something called ìFear Factor.î

It is reality when a professional football player walks away from millions of dollars in Arizona to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan and give his life in the process.

It is not reality when another professional football player puts himself on sale to another bevy of glamorous women in some farfetched contest called ìThe Bachelor.î

It is reality when a soldier serving in Iraq is granted two-weeks leave to come home to Minnesota to be at the side of his dying mother.

It is not reality when a gaggle of men and women contesting for prize money on some remote TV-set island decide who will be sent home and no longer considered a ìsurvivor.î

It is reality when a soldier from Forest Lake goes off to Iraq for a year and lives from day to day not knowing who is friend or foe or if the smiling man or woman in front of him will one day detonate a bomb killing anyone in reach.

It is not reality when some ìAverage Joeî is placed in the company of, yes, a bevy of beauties who want his hand in marriage, and maybe some cash to boot.

The fact that a war involving American men and women continues with no end in sight should not be reason for Americans to stop living. That shouldnít happen.

One can only hope that more and more Americans will understand the true reality of what is happening on the world stage and not get so caught up in the so-called reality of these TV fantasies that only Alice could truly appreciate.

If it is true that we are no longer protected by our oceans, one can only wonder what is protecting us inside our own borders from the endless bombardment of mindless TV shows that continue to stretch the definition of what is real?

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