The walk is not very scenic. My 14-year-old cockapoo isn’t into scenic anyway and that’s a good thing. If he were, he’d be bothered by the growing army of cars and vans clogging the streets. Double-parking has become farcical. The number of spots has not increased because everyone is afraid to legally park next to the curb for fear of being double-parked in. So the cars are just sitting farther into the street while the legal spots are empty.
The handicapped signs are proliferating too. I realize we are an older community, but never have so many people in "ill health" all lived door to door to door. Going by the handicapped signs, there must be an entire race of people living in South Philadelphia who wouldn’t be able to walk to their doors without parking directly in front of their homes. In fact, the only folks without handicapped permits are probably those who still show up for jury duty.
We are a people rooted in paradox. We pride ourselves on being good citizens and vote foursquare for law and order. Yet we flaunt our disdain for the law at every opportunity — the way we park our cars, the hot merchandise that flows through our neighborhoods like lava in the streets of Pompeii, the illegal gambling, which, for many, begins in earnest right after grade school. Some of our legendary politicians reflect that disdain, winding up in some white-collar prison, acting as if jail were a kind of religious retreat and emerging with our admiration intact.
I look down at my dog sniffing a telephone pole. Tuddy (that’s his name) seems content with life: well-fed, pampered and insulated from the cares of the world. His only goal is to wangle another treat from me. It strikes me that most of us are like Tuddy. We are pretty much isolated from the major firestorm of the day — the escalation of the Iraq War. Tuddy doesn’t know where the Middle East is, he’s never been nor does he contemplate visiting. Neither do we, and our understanding of the culture driving this conflict is as beyond our comprehension as it is for my dog. Indeed, the major concern on most of our minds is whether we can find a parking spot when we come home from work. The war may as well be on another planet.
I don’t know if you can blame us. Human beings are limited in their capability to care much about abstractions and the war, for most of us, is just that because few are directly touched by it. Despite his lofty rhetoric, our president has ensured only the brave few have to sacrifice for this war. Unlike any other major conflict in our history, there is no shared sacrifice on our part — no draft, no tax increases (only tax cuts), no gas or food rationing. It’s all pretty much business as usual, and even then we find room to complain how gas prices cost almost as much as a Starbucks double latte or about standing in long lines at airports while inspectors perfunctorily look at shampoo bottles and skin lotion as terrorist weapons.
Even with what the president is optimistically calling "the new way forward," we are encouraged to shop until we drop to make the economy hum while enlisted men and women are getting ready for their second or third tours of duty. Never have so few been asked to do so much for so many. We eagerly await the arrival of our new HDTV to watch the Super Bowl while the brave few wonder whether their battle armor will arrive on time.
We pay lip service to the courageous men and women serving in the cauldron of a civil war, but our heroes are really a bunch of professional football players whose high-priced replica jerseys we wear to the supermarket. We are a fickle lot. We change our loyalties as easily as we change the name on that jersey. Our old T.O. shirt is now worth next to nothing. We ask, "Donovan who?" We thought the coach was crazy to go with Garcia over A.J., until the former became the flavor of the moment, shown almost every night on the 11 o’clock news signing autographs while the hearts of the anchors fluttered. Even faithful Tuddy doesn’t shed his loyalty so quickly, unless you offer him a particularly tasty treat.
The president announced he wants to send 20,000 more troops into Iraq. He threatens to widen the war to Iran, but does so smack in the middle of the pro-football playoffs. If anyone has taken to our streets, it’s as part of a football rally or to argue about a parking spot — not to stop the insanity of the Bush war policy. Perhaps after the Super Bowl, we’ll give it some attention. Right now, Tuddy is tired and it’s time to head home.
