Yes, Catalina, There Really Is Hope
If good looks was a minute/ You know that you could've been an hour- Smokey Robinson, 'The Way You Do The Things You Do'
With all due apologies to Francis P. Church and the New York Sun. Catalina, unlike Virginia, is a complete figment of my imagination.
Dear Shambollocks!:
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no such thing as hope. They say that the middle class will always be screwed, that I will always get better treatment than whites, and that President Obama won’t let me afford college in ten years. Papa says if it’s on your blog, it must be true. Please tell me the truth: Is there such a thing as hope?
Catalina Williams
Catalina, your little friends are wrong. You and they have been pretty unlucky. All you have known is the Bush administration. And the Bush administration scared us all pretty good. Scared us with terrorists. And Social Security. And homosexuals. And Iran. And even socialism, which used to scare your grandpa. They wanted to scare you, Catalina, so you would leave them alone. You know how sometimes older kids will tell you not to go somewhere ’cause its haunted, but then you see those same older kids crowding out the ghosts? Same thing here, Catalina. George Bush scared your friends and their parents. He made them fear that things could get worse-and when it did, because of him, they just got more and more afraid. You don’t get over a fear of dogs by getting bit. It’s just like that.
We forgot about hope Catalina. We had big cars, and big houses, and we drove big miles to work. We ate big lunches in big offices with big salaries. But we had bigger credit card bills and bigger mortgages. And we had to pay those back. Just like you have to make sure you pay for your hot lunches, Catalina. We don’t get anymore free lunches, not anymore. We just have ourselves. And hope.
Our country doesn’t have the proudest history, Catalina. We’ve done lots of dumb things. And we’ll do lots of dumb things in the future. But what has always separated us from the rest of the world, Catalina, is we know we can do better. When times are at their most bleak and hopeless, we remember that our democracy is bigger than religions, bigger than corporations, bigger than all the guns and all the bombs. We’re bigger than all these things because we believe in making our country better. We make our country better because of hope. We hoped for a better future, and it arrived.
Now hope is a funny thing, Catalina. Our new President, Barack Obama, he brings hope. He says he’ll change the world with it. He’s just one man, though, and hope only goes so far. In the next few years, you’ll hear a lot about what Obama can’t do. He can’t fix it so your neighbors get better jobs. He can’t fix it so those people burning flags on TV love us. You’ll wonder if hope means anything. You’ll hear your friends crying, “It will get worse! It will get worse!” And you’ll doubt. Doubt is a good thing. Makes us examine everything more closely. Should we side with the people who say the sky is falling? Or should we side with the people who are trying to make things better? We need to work on hope. We need to not give in to fear. You need to tell your friends that the middle class CAN have a better future, that you CAN have the same opportunities as whites, that you CAN afford college. And that these things won’t harm their life. Tell them they have nothing to fear. And work together with them. And work harder than them. Everyone needs to work harder. No one wants to hear that, Catalina, but that is the truth. Through hard work, anything is possible. Anything is possible = hope. And hope = hard work.
I wish you eight years of big dreams, Catalina. And I wish you a long enough life to fulfill them.
Merry Christmas from all of us at Shambollocks! May even the faintest glimmer of holiday light lessen the gloom of this forbiddding time. And get ready to party like it’s 2009!
Shambollocks! will be off schedule through the New Year. Regular posting will return in ‘09. 
O'Hare Arpt., IL
“Hard work”. I love that you put that in right at the end. Is it safe to say that the loss, or disbelief, of/in hope is a result of the decrease of people to work hard? Poor, poor Catalina. Being only 8 years old, that would mean that she is part of a generation born into a world where “Politically Correct” is mainstream and the general populace has become as sensitive as an open wound to lemon juice. It is now taboo to discipline children with a belt because it has been deemed barbaric and you must praise kids whether they win or lose in a contest.
Yes, Catalina, there is hope. With the arrival of Mr. Barack Obama, a New Philosophy will, hopefully, be born in which people realize that nothing is free and that the U.S. did not get to the top by catering to mediocrity. Don’t know the meaning of that word, Catalina? Well, grab a dictionary and look it up. You’ll be on your way of creating hope for your future.
While Catalina may be fictitious, the young generation is not. Hard work, kids – fear it, love it, reap its rewards.
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Hey, welcome to the site, William! Great feedback.
You are absolutely right about the status of ‘hard work’ in America. When I watched the Ken Burns WWII doc, I found myself gobsmacked at the level of involvement to which most Americans committed themselves. They sacrificed their money, time, and effort to make sure the war was won and the troops came home to a better country.
The Bush administration reacted to 9/11 with a larger government presence and a complete aversion toward asking any of us to change our ‘me-first’ lifestyle. I don’t want to come off as the town crank here, but the majority of Americans contribute very little to our body politic. Why do you think the Republicans held sway for so long? They told people they were the party that would cost them less!
Shambollocks! will be here to make sure the new administration asks much of the people, not of the government, for the greater good.
You better watch yourself espousing belt-spankings, though. You may find yourself with a visitor at your door.
Again, thanks for reading!
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Belt-brandishing, probably considered brutal to many younger adults these days, was a fact of life while I was growing up. You hear the stories from your parents, grandparents, etc. about how punishments were more severe when they were growing up. While I don’t encourage any sort of severe punishment on a child, it does draw a good comparison to the generations of today and yesterday. I don’t want to hover around the topic of child-rearing and I won’t except to say that yesterday’s generation was raised seemingly “iron fist in a velvet glove”. Over the years it seems that fist has corroded aa bit and the glove made a bit more padded. Today’s generation may unfortunately grow up with a “comforting cottonball hand in a money-padded cashmere glove”. How does all of this relate to hope?
Well, for starters, I HOPE our country has had a wake-up call to the brutalities of the world, starting with 9/11. Americans should have come to the realization that very bad people are loose in world and enjoy inflicting pain in the name of their beliefs. Americans should have also learned that people that are supposed to be the heroes, or the good guys, can be bad. I direct your attention the WMD reason for Iraq Part II.
I HOPE that Americans have learned from the Bush administration that rash decisions have can have severe consequences and that the World is watching. Large in terms of geography but tiny in terms of politics and public opinion.
I have a lot of hope in the Obama administration as I think everyone does or should. It’s time for a fresh start and for someone to take the lead who is more aware of changes that have taken place in the world, whether it be on the political front, home front or frontlines.
In comparing generations again, wasn’t JFK yesterday’s bright and shining star?
In Logan’s Run, I believe it was Ruger Hauer that said, “the candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long.” I HOPE history doesn’t feel the need to repeat itself this one time.
P.S. I look forward to some postings in the New Year. This site’s posts are very broad yet thought provoking. Way to go!
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