We\u2019re over halfway through the year.<\/p>\n
This being 2016, we\u2019re not only past the six-month-mark of New-Year-resolutions-gone-sour but we\u2019re also up to our ears in that most-American of all pastimes:<\/p>\n
Getting angry about politics.<\/p>\n
Sometimes, I think getting angry is what we do best. If it\u2019s any consolation, little has changed over the past two hundred years. Our most independent of democratic societies seems uniquely fraught with argument \u2014 be it during the presidencies of Adams, or Jackson, or Lincoln, or Truman, or today.<\/p>\n
Through it all, however, is an undercurrent of independence, of personal rights, deeply held opinions and open \u2014 but sometimes extraordinarily bitter \u2014 discourse. American politics, like American history and society, is not always pretty.<\/p>\n
The cushier our lives get, the more time we have to be embittered about something. Embroiled, hopeful, angry, loving. Nothing but contradictions, it seems, but there is heart and love yet.<\/p>\n
No matter what side we are on, some things remain constant \u2014 the desire to be understood. The desperate need to not be frightened of our opponents. Acceptance of humanity \u2014 if but for a moment \u2014is a powerful medicine and in that medicine there is a quiet magic.<\/p>\n
Because magic is yet real and still in the world around us \u2014 in the\u00a0boisterous firework tents and in the night skies, in the\u00a0mystery of hoodoo\u00a0and all the supernatural of the dark hollers,\u00a0in the\u00a0silent flight of cliff swallows in a dark, watery cave, and of the\u00a0sweet and terrifying monsters of our imagination.<\/p>\n
Magic and art. \u201cCensorship doesn\u2019t allow the whole story be told,\u201d said writer Lindel Gore last week and he\u2019s right. For we do not live in a safe and sanitized world where all the proverbial bottles have safety caps. There is hate and violence and danger too. As a\u00a0coiled copperhead at our feet\u00a0doesn\u2019t know the virtue of innocence, there are also dangers we cannot counter with endless debate but rather with action that is violent and dangerous too.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a fine line.<\/p>\n
We are a strangely complex, easily offended, and prudish people, looking over our shoulders to see if anyone overheard us swearing (or was that just me?). Our social complexities at times confuse even me \u2014 and demand a common question \u2014 to quote a great Sinead O\u2019Connor album \u2014\u00a0How about I be me and you be you?<\/em><\/p>\n Surprisingly, understanding is just around the next corner, waiting for us to lower our guard and extend a hand.<\/p>\n Happy Independence Day.\u00a0As always… thanks for readin\u2019.<\/p>\n Joshua Heston, editor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Been thinkin\u2019 about… \u2026fireworks, magic and America. We\u2019re over halfway through the year. This being 2016, we\u2019re not only past the six-month-mark of New-Year-resolutions-gone-sour but we\u2019re also up to our ears in that most-American of all pastimes: Getting angry about politics. Sometimes, I think getting angry is what we do best. If it\u2019s any consolation,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[938,937],"tags":[12,14,13],"class_list":["post-81","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ozarkeditorial","category-ozarkwriters","tag-fireworks","tag-fourth-of-july","tag-independence-day","category-938","category-937","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":213,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81\/revisions\/213"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}