A New Hope

Christmas

It’s a Christmas tradition in my family.  After all the presents are opened, all of the volumes of food are consumed, and that nap is finally acquired:  it’s time for a movie.  It was a quieter celebration than usual this year, with all of the grandnephews and nieces at other celebrations.  It was an “adult” Christmas, but traditions run strong in our family.  We loaded up the cars, and went to the theatre.

We saw the new Star Wars movie, The Rise of Skywalker.  I remember seeing the first one in 1977.  Back then it was just Star Wars (now they call it The New Hope).  I was twenty-one, and I went to the local theatre in Cincinnati with Jon Phillips, the kid next door.  The most dangerous part of the movie was the ride home, as my 1967 Volkswagen Station Wagon (Type II) dodged and kicked like an X-Wing Fighter.  Star Wars lit our imaginations. 

That was forty-two years ago.  

I’m not a movie reviewer, but The Rise of Skywalker was very entertaining.  From a technical standpoint, it was stunning, as always.  The decision to replace the recently deceased Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) with an electronic version came off without a hitch.  And like all the Star Wars sagas, it’s a story about failure and redemption, good ultimately triumphing over evil, and common people finding their inner heroes.

There’s a reason that the opposition to President Trump is called “the Resistance”.

A Tipping Point

No, I’m not going much farther comparing the Star Wars story to our current political struggles.  But what this latest movie got me thinking about is how pivotal next year is going to be for the United States, and the world.  2020 may be a year full of dread and concern, but what it must be, is a year of hope.

What’s at stake is clear.  The United Nations came out last month with a message, stating that the Paris Accord’s 2040 deadline for controlling climate change might be wrong.  Since 2016, the world has worked with this twenty-four year deadline.  If we could control carbon emissions by that time, we could avoid the most devastating impacts of our pollution on the environment.  

But with the election of President Trump, the driving force behind the Accord has been lost.  There was little progress made in the last three years in the world, led by the United States.  Now the United Nations estimates that instead of twenty years, we have twelve.

In our rabid media culture that message was lost in the “tweets” between President Trump and sixteen-year old activist, Greta Thunberg.  She did her best to raise the issue:  he did his best to insult a kid and change the subject.  But our impact on our climate and world is inexorable.  Our environment will change:  the fires will grow worse, the floods deeper, the storms stronger and more frequent.  And it’s happening all because the United States made the conscious decision to turn away from leadership and action.  2020 is our last best chance.  We face an irrevocably altered earth if we do not.  That’s terrifying, but it’s also reason for hope.  There still is time.

Self-Centered

The leadership of the United States in the world has vanished, and not just regarding climate.  Whether we earned the right or not, the United States has stood as an influence for “good” in the world.  Whether it was controlling the driving ambitions of nations like Russia, or the despotic tendencies of Turkey, or balancing the myriad of interests in the Middle East: the United States was the one world power who could influence action everywhere.

But for the past three years, we are “America First”.  We have left influence on the global stage to others.  Nature abhors a vacuum, and nations like Russia are filling in the space.  In fact, the US policy has become one of antagonism in the Middle East, and Korea, and Central America.  Our current Administration has shrugged off the burden of world leadership, choosing to be a “player” rather than a referee.  

In the past three years America has become less inclusive, compassionate, and caring.  As we have turned away from the world stage, we have become internally selfish.  The main Republican campaign slogan, “how are your stocks doing” is a single marker of that self-centeredness.  We have had four years of internment camps on the border, attacking tweets in the media, and Senate inaction on everything except judicial appointments.  Four years is a trend, eight years will make things a certainty.

The Force

Joe Biden says that the United States can take four years of this without permanent damage but not eight.  But the world may be moving more quickly, and the damage already done.  Like the climate, we are at a tipping point, here in 2020.

In the Star Wars saga, the galaxy is always on the edge of anarchy or destruction.  The “Good Side of the Force” seems to fail, but, often by the narrowest margins, wins out in the end.

It’s almost 2020.  May the Force be with us.