Inside from the Inside

Great Oscar Wilde quote on a Catholic New Yorker’s blog today:

Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.

America, and Americans, cannot undo what has been done.  It is there, it is written, it is recorded, it has already been experienced.  It is still being experienced, right now, in different forms in every city in the nation.  For the past and the present which is instantly becoming the past, it is too late.

For the future, which doesn’t yet exist, it is not too late.  America, in my mind, is as close to “saintly” as it gets in the world of nations that exists now.  We have a past though, and that past defines us as sinners.

But we also have a future, and that future need not be defined by our past – unless we allow the current state of affairs that was created by that past to remain static.  If that state continues, unchanged, then the future is already determined.  The reason that conservatism exists and dominates societies is that the known evils of a situation are often preferable to the unknown and potentially greater evils of alternatives.

What potential greater evil could result from attacking the root causes of racial division in America today?   There is only one, and it is simple economics.  The haves would have less, the have-nots would have more, there would be more competition for middle-class slots since more people would have access to educational and life opportunities, and if you think about, who wants MORE competition?  Who wants a level field for all, when an obviously tilted field is already working just fine?

America does.  Or at least we’ve always said we do.

Tags: Oscar Wilde, Pat McNamara